Natural Born Killers
by ashleysays
Summary: After escaping from Konoha's Hospital for the mentally deranged, Sasuke kidnaps Sakura to use her as a necessary hostage. But when Sakura finds herself willingly aiding him in his murders, she can't help but wonder if insanity is contagious. Especially when she finds herself lusting after the very man who ruined her. Rated M: SasukexSakura. lemons and shenanigans.
1. I: Genesis

While You Were Out

'Natural Born Killers'

* * *

_Why do I do such things?_  
_I do not know._  
_I believe that it is who I truly am_  
_Deep down_  
_Originally_  
_And, therefore, I just do it_  
_Without knowing why_

_As opposed to the other actions_  
_That you know why you do it_  
_Because you have been told to_  
_All your life_  
_By outer influences_  
_Of what they believe to be moral_  
_Or just_  
_Or right_

_It is when the line between is blurred_  
_That you no longer understand your own mind_  
_From the minds of others_

_And you become unoriginal_  
_Inadequate in flavor_  
_A bitter taste in your own mouth_

_So please do not ask me_  
_Such a silly question_  
_In such a tone_  
_That implies I should stop_  
_Because you cannot mold me_

_I am original_  
_And my impulses are flawless_  
_Attempt to find a flaw or blemish_  
_Behold the void pantheon of perfection_

_My line is not blurred_  
_Try not to trip over it_  
_On your way out_

* * *

A man with an aptitude for greatness was also deemed weak by his vengeance. He was a man of high intellect, in light of the more commonplace dysfunction gathered in him throughout years of gritted teeth and gnawing self-loathing; years of subjection to empty, high-ceiling walls and strait-jacket restraints. His hatred for evil doings were construed in how the same hatred brought forth evil in himself.

Even with the love and the caring disposition of one pink headed woman, he could not find it in himself to forget such arbitrary disgust of humanity; disgust that was knitted so tightly into his psyche that even God himself could not pry its hold from the pitiful man. He, therefore, permitted it his purpose to rid his presence of such noxious persons. The vice of the world would beg at his feet in conclusive realization of their wrong-doings- trembling like the nervous, belligerent, little mongrel dogs they were. The violation of such a world, that did not seem fit to execute itself, will stand in his presence and, through his sanctimonious action, become pure once more.

It was true he had a penchant for sufficiently talented foolishness and one certain rosette Psychologist. But what was his most distinguished of faults, one that he held with high regard and worked to veneer, was also his least noted. It was his respect of his own self. It was known of by no one, including he himself, and he enjoyed his ignorance. He relished in his inability to delve into the depths of his depravity. This uncanny ability of _ignoring_ when he most needed to _notice_ was well-used and, therefore, worn to the hilt. He used such an ability to protect himself from the people around him, effectively cutting himself off from all human contact and, perhaps, humanity in general. If so, he was the first in history to successfully attempt and _fulfill_ such an action. The first person that he knew of, at least.

This, in his opinion, should have earned him more respect from the man downstairs with reddish tinted complexion and pitch-fork in hand- flames licking his legs as he stands in a somewhat effeminate stance. This irked him slightly that he had not been praised by such a demon but he did not want any one person's acceptance. Only his own. One's own respect for themselves was all that was pure anymore in such a dilapidated world, he believed. But, at the same time, while it is the most important sliver of our humanity, it is also the least respected.

Self-respect was _not_ respected and, because of such disdain, was not able to respect _itself_. He laughed at the complex irony.

He gathered that his own trysts of multifaceted acts of hatred were well endowed and much needed in the world today. If not himself, who would be the one to avenge? He knew not of any one person with the needed amount of resentment towards such fice littering the world. He would take his own advice and do the job himself since he seemed the only one fit or acceptable for such tasks.

He would blemish his hands with the blood of such the people who brought him to where he now stood- because he was the only one capable, and it was why he still lived. He was also born this way- a murderer- and this fact made _it_ an uncontrollable act and should never be looked upon in such an abrasive manner as you do now. He needed no pity, nor scornful disapproval, from others because it was not his choice how he was born. It was simply just how it happened. He was born to kill and he was not troubled by such a fact.

And as you read upon this story- his story- please do not judge him. He is an abomination in the face of humanity and it is no one's fault. It was planned. It was fate.

* * *

It's hard to explain the exact sensations coursing through my body the moment that I realized that Uchiha Sasuke was a total lunatic.

But, the one I _can_ tell you- because it was the most potent of them all- is titillation. I could still remember that day….

_From the moment our eyes met across the cold, steel bearings at Konohagakure's Hospital for the Mentally Deranged I knew that we would get along well._

_And I knew what I would have to do._

_The swaying light-bulb dangling from the ceiling cast a perfect light onto his pale skin._

_"Mrs. Haruno." The old psychologist that overlooked each patient for each individual disorder cleared his throat to grasp my attention. I reluctantly tore my eyes from the stranger's in the seat across from me and listened patiently for the old geezer to continue interrupting my mental professions of 'take-me-now' to the dark-haired young man in the strait-jacket. His eyes were as ebony as his messy tresses and they scoured my face unrelentingly the entire time I was in that seat. "This patient of mine is Uchiha Sasuke and he is my shot at winning the Nobel Prize from the Psycho-analytics' Convention."_

_I was immediately put-off by the old man after hearing such a confession. He was using this man- Sasuke, he had said- as a way to win some prize in his honorary doctor's 'club'? I tried to lessen the stiffness in my jaw after hearing such things to keep a poised appearance._

_"He is also my most prized possession." The old man, Dr. Kura, went on. "You see, young lady, I recently created a new direction of Psychology in which even the most hardened of our patients can be cured, and Mr. Uchiha is my example of that. As this village's most revered Psychologist, I am in need of your specific help." He twiddled his thumbs nervously in anticipation._

_"What is it you need?" I had asked carefully, emotionlessly._

_"I am too old to lead patients in my trips on my own and the Board of Psychology does not trust me yet with situations such as these…..but they trust you…."_

_"What are you getting at?" I interrogated skeptically and leaned across the steel table towards the old man sitting diagonally from myself._

_"I suppose I will just cut to the chase and save you the time of my blabbering. I wish to ask you the favor of taking my place in escorting Mr. Uchiha here to Burodu Village. Once there, I can meet you at the convention's hotel and pay you handsomely in exchange for your efforts." He was sweating. Probably scared of what I could do in my position as one of the Board's members myself. He was smart, though. Bringing in a patient as an example of a successful and self-created procedure would definitely get him noticed by the Board and have his name written in the most esteemed of Psychology scrolls. He would become richer than most Nobles if it worked as well as he had insinuated._

_I glanced at the Uchiha man and saw his slight smirk._

_"And….how would I be traveling? That village is quite far from here." I wondered to the doctor._

_All of his apprehension seemed to disappear off his shoulders after my sinuous agreement._

_"There will be a large bus from this hospital here tomorrow morning at 5:00 sharp. I will have the patient strapped and secured so he will not be of any danger to you and I will assign three guards to escort you to the village safely. All you have to do is make sure the patient behaves himself." He smiled ruefully, elated that his plan had finally come into fruition so easily._

_"I thought you said that he was cured with your '_magical new technique'_?" I deadpanned, earning a chuckle from the Uchiha. "Why should he be chained down if he is no longer a threat to society?"_

_"Just for precautionary reasoning, my dear, that is all. I just want to make sure everything goes without a hitch and you both arrive safely to the desired destination."_

I had agreed to everything the old man offered. I didn't know why I had wanted so badly to escort such a man at first, but now it seemed so obvious.

_Only five hours after leaving Konoha in the smelly, old and rickety bus that next morning I had come to realize that the Uchiha was not as 'cured' as the old doctor had previously believed._

_"Ahhh," The Uchiha sighed loudly, over-exaggerating the action. "That's much better." He stretched and stood from the dirt road, happy to be free from the restraints he had probably been wearing for years._

_I looked to the corpses of the three guards littering the bus's entrance where he stood just outside of it. I was breathing loudly and probably in shock when he seemed to remember that I was there and still existed._

_"Are you just gonna' sit there in the dirt all day or are you gonna' help me find a car?" He asked me. His voice was deeper than I thought it would be; sultrier. "It's not like we can drive this big thing around inconspicuously," he kicked the large wheel for dramatic effect. "And it's too hot to walk. We'll die from dehydration in two days."_

_"What?" I breathed. His question had confused me after I was over the initial shock of seeing such a thing happen. He had been so fast that I hadn't known what was going on until he slit the throat of the last guard right in my line-of-sight, five feet away. I didn't even know how he released himself from his strait-jacket! "Why aren't you going to kill me?" I asked, my voice trembling. I wished I could take that back as soon as I said it. I didn't want him thinking it was an invitation._

_"Do you want to be my next victim or something? W-O-W, you're demented." He said quirking his mouth in a nefarious manner and cracking his neck, groaning at the feel of relief it gave._

_"But-" I didn't know if I should say it or not, but I was sure he already knew so I said it anyway. "You just killed three government guards!" I yelled into the desert air. It was so hot that I would have done anything to get out of the sun. "I can't come with you now! The police will find out what happened when they come searching for the bus and they'll think _I_ had some kind of part in it." I was beginning to hyperventilate from the truth in my realization._

_"We have at least three days until they figure something's up. We can sit here all day talking about this shit, but I'd rather not. So, either you shut up and come with me or I leave you here to die. Besides, the cops will take one look at you and tell that you weren't the brains of the operation- and if they do, it is better to ask for forgiveness than assent."_

_I ignored his jab at my soft and weak appearance and decided that the man's reasoning was sound before agreeing to go with him. I would rather have taken my chances with _him_ than the sun. I wouldn't be able to survive alone in the desert and from the appearance of the Uchiha it seemed that he knew what he was doing._

You see, he was a natural born killer- the total opposite from me. But after that one moment, seeing his true self even though we knew nothing of each other, I knew we were very much alike. Besides, I was always able to learn quickly and when he offered me the opportunity to join him I did not think to refuse. I could get used to being around him, I thought to myself. And I did- quickly. It's funny how the human mind can adapt to something so completely different without you even realizing what's happening.

Sasuke considered it his 'job' to kill people and when he did his job, he went _all_ out- setting the standard of "not to be fucked with" very high.

But somehow we had found each other- even if it was in such a place as that shitty prison-of-a-hospital. Perhaps this was fate; we were supposed to do this together. Let's face it, we both loved our job and we were damn good at it! Why not join forces to better ourselves? We both needed each other. I needed him to get me out of the mess he had gotten me in in the first place- and he needed me. I didn't know why yet but he wouldn't have kept me around it he didn't. I was going to go with him and do whatever was necessary to survive.

* * *

**Day One**

After successfully flagging down a driver and high-jacking the car we headed onto an unmapped road towards a seemingly empty horizon. "Don't you feel bad at all? That man is most likely going to die out there." I asked the Uchiha in the driver's seat after a few miles ahead of where we had left the poor guy.

"I don't wanna' hear that bull-shit, lady." He tilted his head and fixed the rear-view mirror until it was perfectly to his liking. "_Your_ job is psychology. _My_ job is to kill people. I'm in the "slaughter" business and, let me tell you," his breathy laugh sent chills up my spine. "Business is booming!"

"Let's get this straight, alright?" he looked at me like I was stupid to talk to him in such a way, but I continued. "My name isn't lady. It's Sakura. If we're going to have to deal with each other until God-knows-when we're going to have to call each other by our names, Sasuke."

"Alright." He chuckled, finding me amusing for some reason.

"Dr. Kura said you were cured…." I trailed off, changing the subject, as if he didn't know already.

"I tricked him into believing I was cured because the man would have taken any reason to think his 'genius remedy' had worked. It was simple 'cause he thought his patients were ignorant and incapable of doing anything but worship him." he laughed bitterly. "He should have given us I.Q. tests when we were committed into the facility instead of psychology assessments. They'd be surprised to find out that half of the people they were treating were smarter than the doctors themselves. Why do you think it took them so long to find me?" His tone was matter-of-fact the whole way through.

"I'm going to go on a limb here and guess that you were committed for killing people?" I pretended to sound surprised.

"I killed my family when I was younger. I can't remember why but the idea just _popped_ into my head and I slaughtered them in their sleep! All together I've killed sixty four people. Oops, sixty seven….I forgot about the guards." He always made a strange expression when he talked about things like that. His eyes would widen while he said a couple of the words, looking deep into you, then they would go back to normal while he would smirk slightly and lift his eyebrows once before becoming stone-faced once more. "I revel in being wicked. I love it." Our conversations and his mood were bouncing around to different subjects so much that my head was failing to make sense of it all. The only thing I knew for sure was that this was the first road-trip I had ever been on and it was with a mentally warped asylum-escapee. This was not something I wanted to tell my grandkids- if I even lived through this to have any.

After a while the silence became strange. I just guessed it was because he admitted to massacring his family without a hint of regret; the behavior of a textbook sociopath. "So, how long have you been in this 'job-field' for?" I asked to deflate some of the tension, though it was a crude question to ask in light of what had happened. But it was the only one I could think of.

"As long as I can remember, and loving every minute of it!" he smiled brightly at me and I deduced that his lust or blood was past the point of redemption. I couldn't help but smile back, though what we were talking about was ludicrous and any sane person would never smile at such company.

I had given myself a psychology test once, just for curiosity's sake, and hadn't done well. Nobody is sane. There is insanity in all of us- we just need to be in the right place with the right person for it to take over.

He seemed to bring out the worst in me and, without realizing it, I was starting to act more and more like him.

* * *

**Day Three**

It had been two days since his 'break-out' from our course to Buradu Village and I still wasn't sure what the man's plan was. He didn't seem to have a plan at all, actually, and I was pretty sure we were lost.

"Do you even know where we are?" I sighed and kicked my feet onto the dash-board for a more comfortable position. We had been in the car for almost 48 hours straight and we were running low on gas….again. I had asked him a couple hours back why we couldn't stop somewhere to sleep or eat, but he just said, "The cops are on to us by now. We need to get as far away as possible from Konoha," In that deep voice of his. "How much longer until we're out of the desert?" I wined childishly and tried in vain to roll the window down more. The sand had gotten into the gears, making it impossible for me to roll it down more than half-way.

Sasuke sighed, annoyed by me, and replied, "We're in Suna."

"What?"

"Suna." He reiterated calmly. "It'll be a couple more days before we make it into Sound Country. We'll be safe there." He said it as if he wasn't telling me that I was about as far away from my home as I could possible get.

"I can't go to Sand Village! Or Sound! Look at me!" I ordered, but he had been the entire time- doing his weird expression thingy- and dangerously refusing to look at the dirt road. "They'd kill me as soon as I walked past the gate!"

"Yeah." He agreed.

"You're supposed to make me feel better, not agree!"

"You want me to lie to you?" his expression was blank. "I don't think I can do that morally."

"Are you fucking serious?" I asked incredulously. I wasn't looking for an answer so I just stared out the window and pretended he wasn't there for the next half hour. Of all the things a psychopath could choose as immoral, he chose lying? I couldn't wrap my head around it.

"Shit." The man let out a low whistle and got out of the car. He grabbed the last of the water in the back-seat that he had gotten from the gas station (the one he robbed) earlier that day. I didn't know what he did to the clerk, and I didn't want to know. I tried to see what he was doing through the front wind-shield but the dirt and grime was so caked on that it was a useless effort on my behalf.

After a moment my curiosity got the best of me and I stuck my head out of the window, only to see his silhouette walking down the path almost fifty feet away.

"What the hell are you doing?" I yelled to him, hoping he hear me over the abrasive winds.

He stopped and half turned towards my direction behind him. "The car's out of gas." He clipped out and continued to walk.

I jumped out of the car so fast that I fell into the sand before sprinting to him. "Well you could have informed me, you ass-hole!"

* * *

"How much water do we have left?" my throat was so dry that the words came out sounding like rustling, cracking leaves.

He gave me the jug and I chugged the rest, throwing the empty carton over my shoulder lazily. He didn't seem to be effected by the heat whatsoever. He hadn't drunk any water in a while.

"Why aren't you thirsty?" I groaned and hunched over beneath the sun, as if I was carrying its weight on my back.

"I am. I just practice self-control."

"Don't bull-shit me like that, Uchiha." I spat. "If you had any _shred_ of self-control, we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place!"

He just ignored me. I realized that whenever I said something that he didn't like or didn't want to particularly hear, he would just pretend that I hadn't said anything at all. He apologized to no one.

"The Village shouldn't be far now. Maybe, if we're lucky, another car will pass by before we die. It's actually a pretty good chance that one will." He said as he looked up to the sun. It was almost mid-day and the ball of heat was coming close to blazing directly overhead. I trusted him that a car would come, if only for the hope of it. "If that happens we'll just take it and be to Suna by nightfall."

"You have _no_ regard for the law!" I tried to keep my voice leveled.

"Are you sure? Perhaps the law has no regard for me…." He pondered and rubbed his chin with a furrowed brow. I didn't know if he was joking, but it wasn't very funny.

"That doesn't even make any sense!"

"Doesn't it?" he did his wide-eyed, eyebrow wagging thing again.

"Stop that!" I ordered. The heat was exhausting me and I didn't want to hear his twisted, cryptic life-lessons anymore until I was in some air-conditioning. I sighed in defeat.

* * *

I lost track of how long it was but it seemed like an eternity before we spoke again. I was actually relieved when he spoke. I realized that his voice was soothing to me in my time of distress. For all we knew the police could be a mile away and coming in fast….

"Car." Was all he said, but that was all I needed to jerk my head up in attention. I had been staring at the ground while I walked since the last time we had spoken.

I watched the little shiny dot on the horizon coming toward us until it was big enough to make out. It was a silver car with one driver. "Air-conditioning!" I practically cried and lifted my hands and face towards the sky as if I was praying.

I was so excited that I ran to the middle of the road and jumped around a few times, flailing my arms like a buffoon, to get the driver's attention. The car came screeching to a halt ten feet in front of me, sending sand flying into the air before the wind blew it away.

"You two need a ride?" the man asked. I nodded a 'yes' so fast I felt like I had given myself a concussion. He had brown hair and was balding. His mustache moved when he talked like it was a caterpillar on his face and his glasses were too big to stay upright on his nose without him pushing it up every couple seconds….but at least he had a car.

"Where ya' headed?"

"Whichever way you are." Sasuke offered and told me to get in the front seat.

"Why?" I asked. It was strange that he would tell _me_ to sit in the front and agree to go in the _opposite_ direction of Suna considering he was so…..i didn't even know how to categorize someone like him. 'Controlling' could work, I guessed.

"Just do it." He looked at me like I was retarded and hopped in the backseat.

I followed suit and hopped onto the cool, leather seats. The man driving jerked the car into gear and we were headed back towards Konoha direction at thirty miles an hour.

"What's your name?" I asked the man, even though I didn't care; I just didn't want to be rude.

"I'm Horu-" he tried to answer but was immediately cut off by Sasuke's not-too-politely toned question of "Do you have any water?" I glared at him but he ignored it.

"It should be under the seat back there." The man answered and I heard the Uchiha in the back seat fumbling around until he handed me a bottle of my own. I chugged it down as fast as I could and held my hand out for another while watching the sand-dunes pass us out the window.

"You sure are lucky I saw you two. You wouldn't last a day out here in the desert alone. There's news all the time in Suna about bodies in the desert. In fact, this morning there was a report that some maniac guy who escaped from an asylum and a woman were wondering the desert of Konoha on foot after killing three-"

The loud boom in my left ear made me drop the bottle onto the floor and jerk away instinctually with a loud yelp of "What the fuck?" while braining the back of my head on the window.

The driver's body slowly sank onto the steering wheel. The car's horn honked, long and slow, when his forehead rested against it- unmoving. The blood dripping from the windshield was gruesomely splattered across the dash-board and radio as if it was paint flung onto a canvas from a paintbrush.

"Is that?..." I wanted to ask but decided not to, pointing at a chunk of warbled gunk that could possibly be a part of the man's brain.

"Yeah." He answered.

"Where the hell did you get a gun from?" I twisted fast in the seat to confront him face-to-face for the answer to my shrieks.

"One of the guards we 'offed'."

"We? I think you're forgetting that _I_ had no part in it. It was _you_!"

"Now you're just being too literal." He insulted and lifted himself gracefully out of the car. He opened the trunk, jostling the car a little, and whistled lowly. I looked to the body next to me and winced. There was _no_ way I was going to sit in here with some random guy's carcass.

I jumped out of the front seat and rounded my way to the back of the car. The wind was harsh and flipping my pink hair into my eyes. "Why was there a sword in the trunk?" I asked no one in particular, perplexed as to why a man like him would carry such things with him in the desert.

"I don't question these sorts of things." He admired the long steel of the blade as he ran his palm up along its sharpness and let out another low whistle. "This thing is _so damn awesome_." He said the last three words long separated from each other to emphasize its 'awesomeness' while flailing it around like a light-saber. He dragged the sword in the dirt to the driver's-side-door of the car. He motioned for me to follow but I decided to stay and rummage around for anything else we might need beneath the pile of old clothes.

"There's more water in here!" I called out to him over the wind. "There's a tire, too. _And_ some lint balls! Oh, happy day!" I sang out in a bitterly sarcastically tune.

I looked over so see what he had to say and because the horn had stopped- I was hoping we would find some kind of food and was sure he was wishing the same thing for we hadn't eaten in two and a half days- but he was happily dragging the man's body ten feet from the car. I didn't know what he was doing and, frankly, I didn't care.

I slammed the trunk closed with all the strength I could muster and rested my hip against the smoldering metal, watching the Uchiha at work.

He was chopping away at the corpse's arms and legs, swinging the sword with expert grace while whistling show-tunes and slow-dancing with himself.

"Why are you doing that?" I asked curiously, watching with amazement at his lithe swings.

"I like the Waltz." He said as if it was completely matter-of-fact and wasn't strange at all.

"No. I meant, why are you cutting him up?"

"It'll be easier to burn the body when it's in smaller pieces." He gave me a thousand watt smile and I wished that I was able to contribute more in reply than my strangled "Oh."

"I think I should tell you now that you are exuding behavior that has border-lined to the point of psychopathy. Your loyalty to your 'job' is almost to the brink of obsession in your commitment to every kill." I cocked my head to the side as I observed him. His breathing was erratic with the thrill of his latest victim's demise and he had never seemed as desirable to me as he did at that moment.

"I appreciate your thesis, Doc., but can you save it for later and help me clean this up?" he asked, looking around for something to start a fire with.

"That's not my job. I'm just here to make sure you don't do anything crazy." I lectured in a scholarly tone and walked back to the car with a sashay of my hips.

"Am I the only one here who's not completely deranged?" he yelled as I hopped back into the car. The blood was still splattered across every inch of the dash but I easily took care of that with a couple shirts from the back-seat. Once I was satisfied that it was clean enough I turned the cold air on full-power and positioned the vents onto myself, watching him dispose of the body.

"I understand why you have a hard time feeling sympathy for humanity when you loathe it." I deduced like the doctor I was and pulled my shirt up, tying it with an old hair-tie I had around my wrist to keep it in place. It was too sultry to wear Konoha clothing in Suna weather.

"I find no use in humanity." He said flippantly with a wave of his hand and sparked a fire with some raw materials he found in the sand. "If any of them try to ridicule the way I live, I'll slaughter everyone they ever cared about. Then, perhaps they'll understand what it's like to taste…" He paused and threw a random arm from the ground into the fire. "A little of my hatred."

"I should really be writing these symptoms of yours in my notebook; maybe even mumble something about 'psychological profiles' as I write. I'm supposed to dissect your 'mental situation' along with make sure you behave yourself, too."

"Well, that's two things you're not doing very well, huh?" He took a glance around to make sure there weren't any limbs he forgot.

Once the driver was charred to his liking he joined me in the car. He started it loudly, flipped it around back towards Suna, and peeled off onto the sand-hardened path.

"What I'm about to say is _really_ gonna' piss you off…"

"What?" I asked but wasn't sure if I really wanted to know. By the tone of his voice, it wasn't going to be good.

"I forgot to check the guy's wallet before I set him on fire." He wrinkled his nose and clicked his tongue like a child caught doing wrong.

"Well, that's just fucking incredible!" I said in a way to let him know that I didn't find it incredible at all and crossed my arms to let him see that I was not talking to him anymore. How did he expect us to get any food now?

* * *

I hadn't spoken to him for the last forty-five minutes before finally calming down enough to contribute anything.

"So…. why do we need to stop at a hotel when we arrive?" I started conversation a little while after he informed me of where we were staying. It seemed like every time we were in the constricted space of a car that talk would die without any help from either of us.

"I have a diabolical master plan." He stated, staring at me instead of the road with a positively bored expression for a long time until he decided it was long enough. He was messing with me, I guessed. He seemed to like playing around with people to see their reactions, and me in particular. "But first I need to see the Minister of Suna. He's an old friend." he smirked when he said this like it was a joke. "Then I have _someone_ I need to 'take care of' before we get to sound."

He made a show of thinking hard for a moment. "Alright, what are we going to do when we get to that _someone_?"

"Tie him up; cut him into pieces…..something poetic, I guess."

"Do you have any idea how complex and psychotic you sound when you speak?" I turned to him, wanting to see if he realized it, too.

"Something complexmay also be well-organized and logically constructed. But, a thing that is complicatedwill have something irregular and perverse in addition to fundamental intricacy. Complexity is more formal and technical while something like, let's say humanity, can be perverse."

"That's what I'm talking about, Sasuke! You say things that are insane but you say them in a way that makes you sound like a genius. But, in all actuality, they are horrible philosophies! You should really thing about getting some professional help after we finally finish your 'master plan'." I put the last word in quotations with my fingers.

"Nah, I'll be alright." He wrinkled his nose again and shook his head like the idea of professional help smelled rotten.

He tapped his fingers in time to a song I could barely make out over the static of the old radio. I turned the station to one that was actually broadcasting correctly in the specific area we were traveling in and relaxed to the familiar beat of "Around my Head" by Cage the Elephant.

"I was surprised when you didn't freak out about this car's owner like you did with the guards the other day." Now it was his turn to start conversation.

"I'm used to you by now." I tried to sound like a hard-ass but he only found it amusing.

"Are you implying that i don't frighten you anymore?" He did his wide-eyed smirk-y expression again.

"No. I'm just saying that, with everything that has happened, I'm just going to go with the flow. Whenever you do something abstruse or deranged, I'm not even going to care anymore." I lifted my head high with my resolve.

"That's the spirit!" he took it upon himself not object to such an opportunity and turned the volume up to full-blast.

* * *

"We're going to need some money if you want to stay at the hotel, Sasuke. We also need to eat. I feel like I'm going to pass out." I didn't want to sound like I was whining, but I was so low on energy that I wasn't sure I would be able to get out of the car. We had finally made it into Suna's gates and were pulling into the hotel parking lot. It was night-time already and almost the end of our third day since leaving the bus in Konoha desert.

"Hmmm. I'd say you are correct." He agreed and put the car in park, tearing the keys from the ignition. "Stay here until I come for you." He said, leaning into the open window with a wink. He stood and looked around the parking lot in a paranoid way that I didn't like before leaving.

"Sounds good to me." I sighed to myself and relaxed into the seat after he walked through the fancy front-entrance of the hotel. I had a nagging feeling in the back of my head that I wasn't comfortable with. '_He's up to something…'_ I admitted to myself with another sigh. I had been sighing a lot lately. The last time he told me to stay in the car was at the gas-station that he ended up robbing. "Argh!" I growled loudly and kicked the door open not-too-nicely, storming my way to the entrance as well.

"Excuse me." I tried to get the clerk's attention at the front counter. "Excuse me." I tried again a little louder.

"Welcome to Suna Villa, the finest hotel under the sun." her voice was high-pitched and way too friendly for someone I didn't know. "How may I be of help to you tonight?"

"Have you seen a young man come in here? He is about this tall," I held my hand a foot above my head to help in the description. "He has black hair that looks like a chicken's ass and dark eyes. He's kinda' pale, muscular, and always has a bored expression." I tried not to laugh at the thought of what his face would look like if he heard me describe him. Probably uncaring….

"Yes I did. He took the stairs there on your left-"

I didn't let her finish before I sped to the very stairs she spoke of. My steps reverberated through the empty halls of steps until I reached a long, carpeted hallway. I glanced around quickly and listened for any motion but ran to the next staircase when none came.

I began to think I should have stayed in the hallway until I heard thumping on the stairs above me. I ran up each step as fast as I could until I almost smashed into the Uchiha in my haste as he turned the corner onto the flat between cases.

"What do you think you're doing?" I gasped when I saw the body he had dragged down the last three flights of stairs. The man's head bashed into each step as he was pulled.

"Getting something to eat. Do you know where the closest Denny's is? I want some pancakes." He asked, his stance completely relaxed, as if I knew the way around a city I had never been to before. He tossed a wallet to me as he dragged the body to a garbage chute in the wall and stuffed it in, closing it a few times to make sure the guy wasn't stuck.

"This is unacceptable!" I thwarted him. "Denny's is a horrible idea." I crossed my arms defensively across my chest. "How about Ihop?

"I can't go to _IHop_, they're completely unhygienic." he acted as if what I said was the most unattractive thing possible, wiping the blood and dirt from his face with his white shirt.

"Fine." I vouched. I was too hungry to argue. "We need to change, though." I said and dangled a room-key I had taken from the wallet in front of his nose.

* * *

"Damn it, I want my fuckin' pancakes!" Sasuke growled, squinting his eyes around the restaurant and rubber-necking his head this-way-and-that to look for the waitress.

"I'm sure they'll be here soon. Calm down. They're just pancakes." I tried to stop him from attracting stares. If he was going to act like a weirdo I didn't want him doing it in public. "Do you have no cares about what others think?"

"Just pancakes? Just PANCAKES?" he ignored my question and waited for me to answer but I just gave him a level stare over the table. "You're fucking kidding me, right?"

"Here you two are." The waitress, a pretty brunette, interrupted and smiled and placed the platters in front of each of us on the table. "And here are your waters. Is there anything else you need?" she smiled at me but frowned at Sasuke when she looked over to see him shoveling the steaming, fluffy, syrup-covered, flattened circles of batter into his mouth.

"We're fine. Thanks." I strained a smile of my own and waited until she was gone before I leaned across the table towards the Uchiha. "Can you _try_ and be less conspicuous, please?" I whispered bitingly.

"No." he lamented with a mouth-full of chewed dough.

"You can't just go around giving in to every impulse you have…" I tried to lecture but knew he wouldn't listen.

"Actually, I can." He whipped his mouth with a napkin and chugged his water, throwing the straw onto the ground and lighting a cigarette. I idly re-read the 'no smoking' sign on the wall. "I have no impulse control." He said as though it was the pentacle of truth.

"You're shitting me, right?" I was sure he was lying, even with how he implied earlier that he found it immoral.

"A pretty little girl like you should really watch her mouth. You never know who is listening or what ideas they might get." He lifted his brow and stared deep into my eyes without sincerity. I furrowed my own brow and he gathered that I wasn't in the mood to hear his witty remarks at the moment. "I'm not shitting you." He leaned back and patted his full stomach in relish. "If I got it into my head to get up on this table and strip naked, I would do it without another thought. Ahhh…there is nothing like a smoke after a deck of pancakes….." he exhaled the smoke in my face loudly. I sputtered for air and relaxed myself from leaning on the table, fanning my hand before my face to relieve myself of the smelly fog.

"Why do you act like this?" I tried to sound outraged, but ended up sounding curious.

"I don't know. I believe that things like that are the natural parts of you. If you don't know why you do those things, it's because it's just who you are- so you do them. As opposed to the things that you know why you do them; those are learned over time by what others want of you." He took a long drag of the cigarette again and ashed it on the floor. "Does that make sense?" he asked but didn't look to me for an answer. I guessed he was asking himself. He just held up the cigarette and turned it around to gaze at every angle. "You have to keep track of the parts of you that are deep down at the beginning of yourself- because that is who you truly are. You need to separate those parts from the parts of you that were molded by outer influences. When the line is blurred between the two is when one no longer knows themselves or understands their own mind."

"So what you are saying is that you were born as a killer?" I was skeptical, but he was so convincing that I was beginning to believe it could be possible.

"Well, it sounds bad when you say it like that…." He put out the cigarette in the left-over syrup on his plate then linked his hands behind his head.

"Sometimes you really make me want to hit you." I admitted finally. I had wanted to tell him that for the last fourteen hours.

"Would you like to 'step outside', as they say nowadays?" he gestured to the door, instigating a brawl.

"I don't want to fight you, Sasuke." I admonished with a shake of my head.

"Why not?" he tried to pressure me into it. "I'd fight me." He wagged his eyebrows. "I'll even let you get a few punches in-" he effectively dodged the packet of butter I threw at his forehead. "We should get some sleep." He decided. "We're both a little high-strung."

We left the Denny's and headed back to the hotel in silence.

* * *

**Day Four**

I dreamed about Sasuke. He was standing on the balcony by the large bay window of my apartment back home and I was overpowered by his beauty. His very presence filled the room and he hadn't even stepped inside yet. It appeared impossible that anything could have been so perfect.

"Wake up…." I heard a deep voice and felt something prodding me in the ass. I turned groggily to see him standing next to my bed with his hands in his pockets and poking me with his foot. "Eugh!" I groaned and covered my head with the pillow I was sprawled over but he pulled the blanket off of me with one tug when he felt I wasn't listening.

I bunched up into a ball when the cool air hit me and kicked my legs childishly, jolting the bed and my body. "Five more minutes." I wined loudly.

"We have a lot to do today, Sakura, and I need your help. Why do you think I keep you around?" His voice was further away now in the kitchen. He was so quiet I hadn't heard him move across the floor.

I sat up so fast the blood rushed from my head. "You keep me around for _that_?" I wasn't as surprised as I had sounded. I wasn't ignorant either; I knew there was a reason why he hadn't killed me yet and I didn't expect it to be pretty. "Maybe I should just run away…" I pondered aloud, tapping my finger on my chin.

"Well, it's definitely not for your sparkling personality." His sarcasm was perfectly rounded. "And don't flatter yourself; you wouldn't be able to get away. I'd find you in ten minutes." He lectured and gave me a hard, threatening glare. "This guy had good taste…" he referred to the man he killed on the stair-well the night before while he grazed through the fridg's contents. He tossed me a random beverage from the contraption as if he hadn't just fully insulted me.

I was surprised in myself that I didn't feel more convicted about staying in a murdered guy's room and using his money.

"What are we going to do?" I tried to unscrew the lid, but failed utterly.

"Some recon. Basic stuff. You've seen spy movies, right?" he questioned, walking over and grabbing the bottle from me- unscrewing it himself and handing it back.

"Of course I have." I tried to hide my blush when I accepted the drink, remembering my dream, and hoping he didn't notice my reddening.

"Well, we're going to find the Minister-"

"In a place this big?" my jaw dropped to the floor. "Suna is twice the size of Konoha!"

"Stop complaining! Besides, the Minister only stays in the Gonton District- the street where all the casinos and bars are. It's relatively small so it should be easy to find him. I went out this morning and heard from a _very_ reliable source that he is going to a party tonight. We need to get ourselves on that guest-list by ten o'clock or we'll miss our chance." This little bit of information seemed to make him happier than I had seen him before.

"Where did you go this morning?" I didn't know why but I didn't like the idea of not knowing where he was.

"Getting you something to wear. You can't walk around looking like _that_," he gestured to my body. "And there aren't any women's clothes anywhere in this hotel room. We also have to dress up for the party later so I found you a sexy little number to wear tonight." He winked and pointed to the small pile of clothes stacked on the corner of my bed. "You don't get to see what the dress looks like until before the party, though."

"Oh." Was all I said in return.

"Now, get dressed. We need to get going. It's already noon." He walked out into the sitting room to give me the privacy of dressing on my own.

* * *

"What about him?" I asked, pointing at a man in green standing on a corner with a suspicious aura. "He's potentially evil-looking."

"How about you just let me look considering that I'm the only one who knows what he looks like." He moved my pointing hand out of his way and peered into the throngs of villagers again. We had been searching the town for the last five hours and my feet were killing me.

"I don't think you're going to find him by yourself." I tried to convince him to let me go back to the hotel, but he wouldn't budge in his resolve. "Tell me what he looks like so I can help." I offered reluctantly, hoping to get this done and over with as soon as possible.

"What a Minister _should_ look like." He gazed at me like I was stupid or something. "Black cloak, shiny shoes, righteous expression, and a pious air about him."

"Well, _sooorry_!" My attitude was well-justified after spending so long in the sun with such an infuriating man. I tried to help after that but found that I stared at Sasuke as much as I stared into the crowd. I noticed how broad his shoulders were for the first time. His steady arms were a slight bit tanner than the rest of his pale skin and his hair caught hints of blue in the direct sun. He wasn't wearing the unbecoming grey shirt he was assigned to wear at the hospital anymore. He changed into one of the white shirts in his last victim's closet and some denim jeans. I knew he noticed my steady gaze but he never seemed irritated and didn't tell me to stop.

I didn't know how much time passed after that before Sasuke decided that our best chance at finding the Minister was at the party. So we headed back to the hotel to ready ourselves.

We hadn't brought the car but we had stopped our search fairly close to the hotel. We only had to walk for a silent ten minutes before we were again to the door of 'our' room. Sasuke ran the key-card through the lock and the door let out a loud hiss of air as it opened automatically. It was one of the nice hotels where the bar turned on when you entered your door, releasing cool smoke onto the wine bottles and cases of hard liquor lifting on mechanical shelves.

"Your dress is hanging in the closet." Sasuke sounded uninterested in everything he ever said, but I was becoming used to it. He didn't seem to mind me either, though he swore his only reason to keep me alive was for some mystery of needing my help with something. I was sure it was because he just wanted the company. After so many years alone in a padded cell he was hungry for the presence of another human being and since I was small and not of any threat there was no reason why I couldn't be that person. I was happy with my new diagnosis and decided to believe that instead of the flaky reasons he gave.

He might have been a psychopath, but he _was_ still human after all…..deep down somewhere. Maybe behind some metaphorical door or wall….or locked away in some mental hutch with a padlock but no key.

I mused over this new idea about my new 'patient' on my way to the shower, ignoring the closet. I was almost biting myself with the excitement to see what the dress looked like but I didn't want him to know. I had never been to a fancy hotel party, especially one with political figures present, and I had never been in any position to dress better than a woman's version of a suit. I was only a psychologist and didn't have any need to be invited to such soirées.

I wondered how long I could stay in the shower before Sasuke came looking for me. He liked to rush people, you see, and I wasn't one who liked to be put on a time-schedule when it came to hygiene. All my worries melted away in the cool water, however, and once I saw all of the sand from my hair accumulated at the bottom of the shower I decided that I didn't care. I lathered myself as well as possible, squirting the entire travel-size bottle of shampoo/conditioner- courtesy of the hotel- onto my head.

Once I was sure I was clean enough- I could almost see my reflection in my skin- I turned off the shower head with a deflated expression. It was the only time I got away from the Uchiha and all it accumulated to was twenty minutes.

"Are you almost done?" Sasuke hollered from the sitting room. He sounded impatient and I smiled to myself, happy that I could get under his skin so easily.

"I can be in here as long as I want to-" I stormed out of the bathroom but stopped when I sighted the small, black fabric lying fluidly on the corner of my bed. "be…." I finished quietly, running my fingers along the cloth's edge. It felt like suede but looked like fine silk, no doubt one of Suna's finest quality fabrics. "How did you afford something like this?" I was hesitant to put it on for fear of tearing it. It seemed so fragile.

"Whoever this room belonged to had a lot of cash stashed under the dresser. I did a little snooping around the premises last night."

It seemed like an eternity before I finally fit the dress onto the contours of my body. I was too afraid to just throw it on like everything else I owned. It was tight on the ribcage just beneath the bust and loose around the neck, black as night. It flared under the waist until two inches above my knees and the back was comprised of almost no fabric at all; a deep opening from neck to the base of my spine. The only fabric there was on the back was from my rear down and the tie behind my neck that attached to the cloth on my shoulders to keep it in place. When he said 'sexy little number' earlier I wasn't expecting something so extravagant. I was expecting 'street sexy' not 'intellectual sexy'. I had to admit that I rocked the look, though, not to brag.

I made my way to the sitting room to find the elusive Uchiha and trying to practice a graceful walk as I went but it didn't look as well as I was going for.

Once he was in my eye's grasp I didn't mean to stare but to say the Uchiha could pull off a black suit was an understatement. The black contrasted his features flawlessly and it reminded me again of my dream from that morning. Nothing could have looked so perfect.

But, of course, he had to say something profound to ruin the picture I had created in my mind.

"The cops are in Suna." He said it like it _wasn't_ a big deal and poured something with his back towards me. "It was on the news while you were cleaning up."

"What are we going to do?" I tried to hold back my growing fright. I wanted to go home, but not in a body bag and definitely not in handcuffs.

"Go along with the original plan, of course. We'll be in Sound soon, maybe even by tomorrow night if we leave after the party."

I didn't know what to do with myself. My hands were shaking and I was sure this wasn't going to end well. I was also sure I was quite close to an emotional breakdown. The bad guys never got away in the end. Every movie I had ever watched was proof of that fact. All I had was hope. The hope that he knew what he was doing and that I could trust him.

"Come here." He softened his voice and he didn't look as bored as he usually did. He could probably tell how strung out I was and was just trying to be nice and calm me down. No guy wanted to have to put up with a hysterical woman.

He handed me a glass of red wine and I took it as he placed his hands lightly on my shoulders and turned me around until my back was facing him. I felt him tugging on the strings of my dress, trying to tie them together as his foot nudged a pair of heels towards my feet on the floor. "How are we going to get on the guest list since we couldn't find the Minister?" I wondered.

"I'm not only good at killing." He informed with a smirk. I could hear it in his voice. "I can talk my way out of just about anything….or _into_ anything, in this case…I guess…" he bragged.

"Thanks for the dress." My voice shook strangely. I realized I was nervous and drank my wine in two gulps. I couldn't decide whether I was nervous being so close to him, afraid of him, or afraid of the police catching us….maybe even frightened of being caught and separated from him? I threw those kinds of thoughts form my mind before they could corrupt me. I was beginning to think like a crazy person, too.

He looked me up and down, spinning me around, and let out a long breath from his nose. "I have good taste, I must admit. But, it looks better on you than it did on that mannequin." It was the first decent thing he had said to me and he walked away just as quickly.

For some unknown reason he wouldn't be in my presence for more than a few seconds before finding something else to distract himself- and when he _was_ in my presence he would stick to only arrogant remarks. When we were in a car it was unavoidable, but in a hotel room (that wasn't even ours) he was able to space himself from me so well. I didn't want to admit it but I didn't like it when he did such things- ironically as that sounded. I let him murder innocent people, but didn't want him to be distant. I laughed at how pathetic I was. And I didn't know if I disliked his absence because I didn't want to be alone with my thoughts in fear of freaking out or because I just enjoyed being around him- though I _knew_ just how _wrong_ it was—or possibly both reasons.

I followed him after a moment of thought into the bedroom where he stood looking out the window suspiciously. I situated myself on my bed next to his and watched him for a moment. The party wasn't going to begin for another three hours and there was nothing to do in the time between. I had to admit, I was also bored. My days ever since Sasuke had basically _kidnapped_ me were filled with my sitting around and worrying about my future. I was either going to be killed by the Uchiha's own hand, arrested because the police would believe I was part of the crazy man's scheme, or succumb to committing suicide in my desperation. I didn't like sitting stagnant with my fearful thoughts.

"So, do you _really_ like the Waltz or were you just joking again?" I began.

He closed the curtains securely over the window and looked to me with a sigh. "I do not joke about the classics." He was matter-of-fact, as always.

"Can you teach me?" I asked and wished I had just kept my mouth shut when he looked at me skeptically. "I need to know how to dance if I'm going to have to try and blend in at a _real_ political party-bash." I gave the excuse but I was sure he saw through it to the truth.

He raised his eyebrows, thinking about something stressful- probably believing it a waste of his _precious_ time to teach me- and blowing a lungful of air from his mouth. "Alright." He agreed after thinking seriously. He walked to the stereo without haste and scoured the collection of CDs carefully. After a while of my nervous waiting he finally found a disc that was up to par with his liking and placed it carefully into the disc's entrance of the stereo. I wasn't familiar with the song- it sounded very old- but when I was just about to ask him he beat me to the punch and said it was called "Let's Go out Tonight" by Craig Armstrong.

"It's not a conventional song for people to Waltz to, but we'll make it happen." He said, smiling genuinely. He seemed to enjoy songs from the ancient era, I thought musingly, though he was my age. His steps were slow and careful as he made his way to stand before me. He held his hand out to me and thus I took it. His was so steady, waiting for me to accept his open palm, and mine was trembling until I placed it in his and his fingers curled securely around me.

I knew he would not appreciate to know how something as simple as his hand around mine could awaken the butterflies in my stomach from their deep slumber. There were many things I never told him, I realized, about his effect on me because he would not like those words. I was afraid that if I let him know just how agreeable I found his company to be, that he would no longer find my own agreeable and cast me out. This was what was forcing the trembles of my hand.

A guitar softly began with four tunes repeating, as if a lullaby, and became louder as the song progressed. His hands lead me in a way that was nothing less than commanding, but gentle and patient. Our faces were only inches apart and I could feel his light, calm breathing on my forehead, for he was nearly a foot taller than me. I was staring at his face so intensely that I did not notice his hand around my waist until he began to move my body in the desired direction and applying a slightly firmer pressure to my waist and hip than before with his touch.

"Side, side, forward, back…" he repeatedly led me by my waist with his right hand and his words, holding my right palm warmly in his left. For such a cold and calculating man he had a pleasantly warm body. His eyes were less cruel than usual, come to think of it. "That's right…" he appraised me quietly when I seemed to be moving correctly to his liking. I made one minor fowl-up, stepping on his foot before becoming quickly used to the steps, but he pretended as if I hadn't misplaced my step at all and continued to move my body with his.

"Pray for me….praying for the light." He sang softly in my ear with the steady lyrics and I could feel his lips whisper against my hair, tickling my temple. "Baby, baby…" His eyes were closed and his head was bowed slightly as if he was concentrating on the words very carefully, not wanting to miss a single beat of the crescendo, while his fingers released themselves from their hold in mine and splayed across my hand. His size was much larger from mine when placed flatly against each other in the air and my flesh was left with trails after his fingertips as they adventured my open palm. His calloused tips tickled mine while he trailed his fingers up and down my own in gentle patterns. "Let's go out tonight."

He moved his lips from my hair and kept his head bowed before me with his eyes still closed so that our foreheads rested against each other.

He connected our grasps loosely and elongated his arm outward; moving me out from himself for a brief moment with both our arms straight, then pulled me back. His hand rested on my bare lower back. I wondered if he could feel how sweltering my skin became when he touched me. He pressed my hips to his own firmly and moved me with him to the music once more, letting go and spinning me once, arms still connected over my head, like a ballerina. "I know a place where everything's alright…" his voice was soft while he sang lowly in perfect unison with the audio and rested his head against mine once more. Our noses were barely touching but it was still all I could think about. "Alright…..Let's go out tonight."

The song was slowing and I knew the end was coming all too soon as he bowed my body back, holding all my weight with the palm he still rested against the heated flesh of my back. My head dangled back towards the floor until the last few notes before I brought it up and came face to face with him.

It was one of the moments where you were sure the person looking into your eyes felt the same way you did with just one connecting glance and nothing in the world, nothing at all, could stop your lips from meeting. Nothing could ruin the way your heart pounds in your ears or how your hands are trembling still, but the thought isn't worth your time anymore because he's moving closer and closer and you only hope that the moment doesn't end and his lips would meet yours at a faster pace. The anticipation is killing you.

The song ended and silence was met this time with acceptance. It seemed like his lips were moving agonizingly slow and I was about to lift my own to his and deflate the apprehension in the air with my awaited kiss when a loud knock sounded at the door and it opened with a click.

"Your dinner, sir." The room service clerk explained, gesturing to the cart he pulled in and seeming embarrassed that he had interrupted us. I was still bowed under Sasuke's body, staring at each other, until the clerk asked a question I didn't hear and Sasuke puffed out an irritated breath, lifting me hack up until we stood normally. He let me go, trying not to seem obvious about pushing himself away from me again and carefully extracting himself. My waist and hand seemed chilly without the warmth of his body and I missed it more than I should have.

He walked over to the clerk and paid him, acting as if nothing just happened between us whatsoever. The clerk left quickly, leaving the large cart of delicacies behind for us. I could tell he didn't want to stay in the awkwardness any longer. "Eat what you like." Sasuke pointed to the covered trays of expensive food. "I didn't know what you liked so I got everything. I ordered while you were sleeping this morning."

I grabbed a chocolate covered strawberry and a glass of white wine, eating it in silence and watching him questionably. I wanted to ask him if he felt it, too, while we were dancing but he didn't look at me. He was back at the window and suspiciously watching out of it again with the curtain pulled to the side slightly and a cigarette resting between his parted lips.

"Thank you…" I trailed off, wanting to say more than that but chose not to at the last moment- which made my gratitude sound shoddy.

He didn't answer and just kept staring towards the streets fifteen stories down. I didn't expect an answer, though, so I just grabbed a plate of something that I didn't recognize and made my way into the seclusion of the living room to eat.

After a few minutes of eating in silence without looking at my food I decided that silence and I were not compatible. I needed to do _something_ to rid my mind of the Uchiha.

I had a few options: drinking, radio, or drugs. Since I was too afraid to do the third and I was saving the drinking for at the party, I found the remote and turned the radio on, logging the volume up until it hurt my ears.

The song was familiar, "Tear You Apart" by She Wants Revenge, and I was thankful for that. It reminded me of back home when I would hear it at Ino's house on weekends we spent together as friends.

It was an hour and a half before we spoke again. "Are you ready?" he asked stoically from behind the couch I was sitting on, making me jump slightly in surprise. I could tell from the change in his voice that he was back to the way he had been when we first met four days ago; brash, uncaring, and sadistic.

"Yeah." Was all I returned to him. I didn't know how to act in his presence anymore. I was so furious at the clerk for interrupting that I found myself wishing I could kill him. I frightened myself with the thought and realized how much like Sasuke I was becoming. But most of all, I wanted him to hold my hand in the air and press his forehead against mine. I just wished he would dance again.

* * *

"Wait in the car." Sasuke said and it seemed all too familiar from the last two times he had ordered me to do the same thing. It meant, as always, that he was up to no good.

"I'm going with you." I stated plainly and something in my voice stopped him from protesting. He just gave me a leveled stare for a moment and walked away, leaving the door open for me to follow. The limo that picked us up at the hotel was the finest quality automobile I had ever ridden in before. I didn't know how the man Sasuke had killed could possibly have enough cash in his wallet to pay for all of this, but I wasn't going to complain! At least we were putting it to good use….

I told the driver to wait for us until after the party and he nodded when Sasuke handed him a large tip to persuade him. We waited until the driver was out of sight before Sasuke walked past the entrance to the large mansion where the party was being held. The doors were pouring with guests trying to tell the guards their names to see if they made the guest-lists- each one was dressed extravagantly as well.

"Where are we going?" I tried to hurry and follow the long strides of the Uchiha but my heels were proving difficult to maneuver in. "The entrance is back there…" I pointed back to the direction we had come from over my shoulder.

"We'd never get in without our names on that list." Was all he said, stopping just outside of a dark alley halfway down the street from the social function.

"Wha-"

"Shhhh." He cut me off to quiet me. He was paying attention to something down the alley and I strained my ear to listen as well.

"You wouldn't believe some of the people who try to attend such soirees, Makimi! It's pathetic!" A boisterous man's voice reverberated off the stone walls of the alley as he spoke to the unseen woman around the corner with him.

"Who was it this time?" she laughed at his rudeness in a snobby, high-chinned sounding voice. "Don't tell me that shod of a girl Kariu-san had anything to do with it!" she snooted.

"No, but you won't believe your ears!" he led her on with his crude 'joke'. "Kibari-san tried to get himself on the list! He lost his fortune last year and still tries to pretend he is in par with our stature of people!" he laughed with her this time, sounding disgusted to be talking about Kirabi.

"When will commoners realize where their place is?"

I tried not to listen anymore as they began to get closer and closer to us. I didn't want them noticing us listening and nudged Sasuke in the side with my elbow to urge him on. "We're gonna' get caught eavesdropping!" I whispered and he gave me a look like I was the most clueless woman on earth.

"How do you think we're gonna' get on the guest list?" he dead-panned. "They're on it and we're not." He spelled it out slowly until I caught on to what he was trying to tell me.

"We're not killing them, Sasuke!" He covered my mouth when I almost yelled it and released me finally when I quieted down. "They may be horrible people, but we can't!" I tried to convince him, though I already knew it wouldn't work.

After a moment of him not agreeing and no change in his expression I realized that he was going to do it anyway. "I'm having no part in this." I said and crossed my arms in defiance.

"I don't have to get her name for you to use, you know. I'll just do it myself, then, and you can stay out here in the middle of Suna while _I_ attend the gathering." He knew this would work. Like hell I was going to stay by myself outside at night in an unfamiliar village!

"What do I have to do?" I groaned out agitatedly and listened to his plan.

* * *

"Help…!" I yelled, glancing behind me in fear of the man I was chased by. "Someone, help!" I hollered again and turned the corner into the alley, running towards the two people I had heard only moments earlier. I could see their bodies walking towards me through the dimly-lit narrow passage. The alley was long and the cobble-stone walk had me straining to keep my balance.

I felt a pair of rough hands grab my upper arm and toss me harshly into the stone wall when it seemed my pursuer successfully caught up to my sprint. My hand slapped loudly against the wet concrete as I caught myself against the wall, stopping my face from hitting, and the stinging from such blunt force was as if it were on fire. I felt my elbow drag across the wall and idly wondered how I was going to cover the scrape at the party. Injuries were _not_ part of the plan.

I let myself fall to the ground, looking up at my 'capturer' with distilled fear and desperation filling my face. Sasuke seemed amused by my commitment in my character of 'victimized citizen'. He smirked down at me from where he stood at my feet in front of my trembling body. "Got ya'!" he purred, smiling evilly, and leaned towards me as if he was about to attack, his face coming out of the blinding shadows and his expression frightening me fully. I knew he was only playing along but for a second I experienced what all of his victims must have endured before they met their deaths at his hand.

I wasn't playing anymore when I turned on my knees and tried to stand to run again, but he grasped my ankle and held me down. I let out a surprised shriek, probably too loud, and hoped that the man and woman at the end of the alley would hurry and interfere like they were supposed to. I hoped nobody else on the streets outside of the alley heard my cry for help. We didn't need any curious bystanders to kill after this.

"You!" the boisterous man from before intervened and ran towards us. "Hey, you! Stop!" he hollered in a gravelly voice and Sasuke looked up at our company and darted off into a side-street connected to the corridor I currently resided in.

The man and woman finally made it to me, a little hesitant still, when it seemed that Sasuke was gone for good and scared off. "Are you hurt, young lady?" the woman asked me, seeming to be truly worried about my condition. I held my throbbing elbow and kept my façade up.

"Thank you!" I cried out in a shaky voice and threw myself into the arms of older man who was my 'savior'. "Thank you!" I repeated over and over, pressing my body against his.

He stuttered and awkwardly tried to figure out what to do with his hands. "N-no problem, little miss." He laughed. "No problem at all…." He was nervous and with good reason. I hugged him tightly- like a frightened young girl would do in a situation like that- and watched the woman, Makimi-san he had called her, behind his back. The older man, but not much older than myself, that I held patted my hair and I let out some rehearsed sobs to convince him further of my desperation.

"Calm down, now…." He chided me softly and rubbed my back slowly in a motion that was meant to soothe. I peeked into the darkness through my fake tears and watched Sasuke's tall figure approach Makimi-san silently. He was as quiet as a whisper; so quiet that she didn't notice his presence directly behind her until his hand snaked around her to cover her mouth with a fierce force that made me apprehensive for her. Sasuke had promised me they wouldn't feel any pain or fear. He promised they wouldn't have enough time to know what was happening to them.

The woman struggled for a few short seconds before her body became limp in his grasp, her neck contorted gruesomely in a gnarled tilt, after a small cracking sound from her frail body when Sasuke twisted his arms suddenly. I never would have imagined how easy it would be to kill someone until then. He made it look so simple- so quick.

I let out one last sob of sharp cries and followed Sasuke's steps with my eyes as he made his way to the man I was still grasping onto. As soon as he was standing behind the unsuspecting man I immediately let go and pushed myself away. The man looked to me, confused at my sudden change in behavior, but the color in his eyes faded slowly and small spurts of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth until he fell with a dull thud onto the hard earth beneath us. The knife in the Uchiha's hand was stained with red and he chucked it down the side-street he had probably found it in.

The whole game had probably taken six minutes to complete and it was over before I knew it. I was relieved it wasn't as hard as I had thought it would be. I actually found myself feeling slightly elated that I had succeeded in something so depraved and illegal- something so inhuman. I idly realized again how similar to Sasuke I was becoming.

"You did well." Sasuke appraised me with a cheesy thumbs-up and a cheeky smile.

"All those acting lessons as a child came in handy, after all." I sighed and calmed my heart, whipping the false tears from my eyes and trying not to ruin my makeup. I was relieved when I scanned my appearance while Sasuke hid the bodies and saw that the dress was not damaged and my elbow was just a little scraped up. It would only turn out as a bruise, if even that.

"Hmmmm." Sasuke hummed to himself, studying two plastic I.D.s in his hand as he came out of the shadows. I guessed they were from the bodies he searched and disposed of. "It appears that my new name is Hirotsu Midarami…and yours is Makimi Midarami." He looked at me and rubbed his chin in thought. "I guess you're my wife…." He trailed off and scanned my appearance up and down with squinted and judgmental eyes. I straightened my stance slightly in turn of his prodding gaze. "I thought that if I was ever gonna' get hitched that it'd be to someone with bigger breasts…" he frowned then snickered at his own joke when he saw my face. I obviously didn't find his jeering funny.

"We just killed two people. You could at least respect their sacrifice with a moment of silence or something…. Be courteous." I interjected in a lecturing tone, chiding him as if he were a young child.

"Yes, ma'am!" he saluted me with his hand to his forehead like a soldier and led me out of the alley and back into the busy street.

"How do we know these names will work?" I asked, nervous about the possibility that we would be turned away and have to find two more new identities. I didn't know if the small shred of sanity I had left could withstand killing two more people if that happened. He didn't answer my pleading question and just kept walking with me close behind until we reached the door.

"Names?" a burly man in a black, tailored suit asked curtly when we finally made it past the throngs of guests waiting to be accepted in without a listed-name.

"Hirotsu and Makimi Midarami." Sasuke answered calmly, as if it were the utter truth. He could have even convinced _me_ if he wanted or tried. I couldn't believe or understand how cool-headed he was while I was a nervous wreck. The guard was taking forever to find our 'names', flipping from page to page for confirmation, and it seemed like an eternity before he said anything.

"Ah, there you are." He pointed to a slot with our new identities written carefully in pen and I almost let out a relieved breath of air I didn't notice I had been holding up until that moment. "You may go in." he signaled another man by the large doors that pulled the thick handles, opening them effectively. We strode in like we owned the place- I tried my 'graceful walk' and probably failed again utterly while Sasuke carried his usual aura of 'don't-fuck-with-me' and bringing sexy back without concern.

Sasuke whistled lowly, admiring the elaborately decorated ceiling and grand stair-case that lead to a finely-lavished, second story of the mansion. "The things money can buy…." He trailed off in awe. The walls were a semi-white pallor with hints of lavender and the stairs were a finely carved wood that I had never seen before outside of high-end fashion magazines.

"Are you absolutely _sure_ the Minister will be here like your '_very reliable source'_ from this morning said?" I asked, hoping they had been right and we would not have to stay in Suna any longer. Not only did I absolutely _loathe_ the humidity but I was actually looking forward to traveling to Sound Country. I knew that, once there, we would be safe as the Uchiha had promised and that I would no longer need to worry myself about becoming apprehended by the police. There was no doubt in my mind that they were searching for us. The day before, when the Uchiha loony had shot the poor driver in the back of his head, the radio had informed that they had already found the bus in Konoha's desert. I grimaced at the thought.

"If he's not here, I'll track down my 'informant' and kill him." He said loud enough that anyone standing nearby would have heard. I glanced around, but none of the other guests seemed to have overheard and I let out a sigh of relief. The Uchiha's uncaring attitude was going to get us caught! "Let's look around." He said and made his way up the grand stair-case to the top floor.

The party-goers on the second level seemed to all be younger than the attendees downstairs- all around Sasuke's age and my own. We passed by many doors, pushing past the throngs of bodies, some closed and some cracked open only a sliver. I was thankful that there weren't a maze of corridors. It seemed that the lay-out of the halls was fairly simple and wouldn't take us very long to scour.

One room we passed by was playing rap music. "I just wanna' talk and conversate, 'cause usually I just stalk and masturbate." The unfamiliar lyrics rang out through the cracked door to a dark room as the bass thrummed through me, vibrating my ears. Each room seemed to have different songs playing and all the bass meshed together to create one syllable of booming vibration. We made it to the last door and Sasuke opened the crack a little wider, peering in. The song was loud and hurt my head, but I was sure I had heard it before. I was sure it was called '#Stupidfacedd' by Wallpaper. I had heard it a couple times on the radio back in Konoha and the room next to the last was bumping out 'Basshead' by Bassnectar.

"Would the Minister really be up here with people like this?" I asked, eying a couple making out against the corner, three feet away, at the end of the hall.

"I didn't think so, but it's better to check than to overlook." He stated and walked past me without telling me where we were going. I was getting used to that.

We made our way back downstairs to the more civilized party. They music was calmer- 'Georgia on My Mind' by Ray Charles. I felt Sasuke straighten up next to me and I unconsciously did the same. The guests were more eloquent than I had expected and we had to act like them, look like them, to fit in and keep attention from ourselves. I wanted anything _other_ than sticking out like a sore thumb in a place like this with the company that I was keeping.

A waiter passed by with an expensive looking silver salver balanced uniquely on his hand. "Miss." He bowed humbly and offered the tray to me. I captured two glasses of white wine and handed one to Sasuke after the waiter was called to the group of conversing men and women to our right. The Uchiha gave my hand a strange look then rolled his eyes.

When I gave him a dirty look back he pointed discreetly with his free hand to the group that the waiter was now tending to. I watched the way they held their glasses as if they were created with the most delicate of glass and their pinky fingers stuck out slightly. "Hold it like that." He ordered shortly and motioned for me to follow him.

We glided into the next room slowly, with a relaxed haste that we copied off of other guests. I tried to present myself like everyone else, but wasn't very good at it.

The room we entered was filled with men and women wearing the same kind of flashy clothing that we were and holding their own glasses of clear liquid. The women were knit together in small groups- their faces closely pressed together and looking as if telling each other some delicious secrets. They were all tightly clipped and trimmed in their dresses and imperial jewelry. They gave me sour glances as I passed by- probably because of my unusual pink hair- and gossiped when they believed I was far enough away to not hear.

The men were nothing less that prim or proper and some had shorter, thicker glasses in their hands filled with a darker liquid and ice floating at the top. The smell of their drinks aired the room, telling me it was some kind of spiced liquor, and the ice clanked minutely whenever one of them waved their arm in enthusiastic conversation. Their hand gestures were grand as they told boisterous stories, talking so loud like they wanted everyone- even the people not listening- to hear how grand their lives were.

Sasuke seemed disinterested in everything- except the grand piano in the corner- and lead me outside onto the plateau underneath a intruding balcony that lead to a finely handed garden. A large fountain rested at the end of the bitumen plateau with a large, marble statue pouring water from a smooth vase. Behind the fountain lay hundreds of yards of undisturbed land covered in rosebushes and willow trees.

There were only a few people scattering the garden, but their silhouettes were covered by shadows far away and their voices were faint in the distance.

"Hey, you look familiar." the deep, gravelly voice of a man spoke from our left. I turned to see who had spoken, but realized the man wasn't speaking to me, but to Sasuke instead. I caught Sasuke's hand tighten around his wine glass slightly. If one hadn't been paying much attention to his reaction, they would not have noticed. The man who had spoken in the rough timbre was adorned in a long black robe worn over a white collared shirt with a white sash draped over his shoulders. The sash's length reached down to where his knees would have been under the ebony vestment. The man, who I guessed by Sasuke's tensed shoulders and clenched jaw was the Minister, pointed at him and said, as if it were a great realization, "I know you."

"Well, that's unfortunate." Sasuke smiled darkly and his voice was velvet once again- the rigidity of his shoulders and clenched hand eased back to his usual façade and calm pallor after speaking and he let out a deep, calming breath while shaking the Minister's hand.

"Where have we met before?" the Minister asked as if it were an exceedingly enjoyable guessing game. His hair was white and balding and his eyelids were sagging with age. He appeared to be about sixty years old, but I wasn't entirely sure. "Was it in Church? Yes, at the Cathedral!" he snapped his fingers and waited for the Uchiha's answer.

"I'm quite sure not, Minister. I have not attended church for a very long while. Not since my family was alive…" Sasuke trailed off and the minister appraised him, setting his drink on a nearby, unoccupied stool close to them. The glass clanked loudly against the find wood and I idly wondered if there would be rings of water stains after setting it down without a coaster. "Is this your son?" Sasuke asked to try and change the subject, pointing to the young blond man standing just behind the Minister's back.

"Yes, it is." He was about to turn to said man behind him and say something.

I shifted uncomfortably at the situation and my movement seemed to distract the Ministers attentions from Sasuke and the blond man. "And who, may I ask, is this lovely specimen?" the man's tone was slightly lecherous as he grabbed my hand and placed a chaste kiss to the back of it. I gave him a strained smile and silently pleaded him in my mind to get away from me.

"Ah, yes. I don't believe I have introduced you to my wife, Makimi Midarami." Sasuke gestured to me.

"Midarami? That sounds oddly familiar…" the man rubbed his chin, trying to relocate the mnemonic.

"I'm _sure_ it does." Sasuke joked to himself. The Minister was unaware of the meaning in his 'innocent' words but I wasn't. I could only hope the Minister wouldn't remember just _why_ such a name sounded familiar and realize that we were not who we pretended to be.

"Makimi." Sasuke called to me softly. It took me a second to realize he was referring to me in my sobriquet.

"Yes, Hirotsu?" I played along and made my voice as sweet sounding as possible, like the women inside sounded.

"Why don't you relax inside, Dear, and gossip with the other ladies?" he turned to me and used his eyes to glance towards the exit, letting me know it wasn't a suggestion like it had sounded when he had said it. I gave him a straight stare.

"Yes, _Dear_." I tried to sound doting, but it was hard when speaking through gritted teeth. For some reason he didn't want me around when he talked to the Minister, and I could understand why- this was a private matter- but I didn't want to go inside with the women's stares again.

I grudgingly trudged back into the soiree and rested myself against a bare wall, watching the people pass by and sipping my wine. Time always seemed to go by all too slowly when you're waiting with nothing to do. I could not talk to the other guests because I didn't know what I could possible say. I was sure if I spoke to them or even _tried_ to start polite conversation that they would realize immediately, due to my lack in elocution, that I was not 'one of them'.

So, I decided that he safest place for me to be was against the very same wall I had been attached to for the last fifteen minutes. I sent nervous glances at the large clock on the opposite wall of the large, noisy room every few seconds and ran the tip of my finger around the rim of my empty glass repeatedly to give myself something to do for a distraction. I was staring longingly at the minute-hand of the Victorian clock for the millionth time when a tall figure planted himself lackadaisically against the wall right next to me, directly to my left. I scooted away slightly more to the corner to my right to keep myself away from his close proximity. I knew without looking who it was. Sasuke always carried a certain air about him that could not be confused with any other man.

"You look like a lost little kitten." He stated, looking into the crowd just as I was with one leg bent at the knee and propped on the wall behind him with his hands in his pockets and his head resting back on the wallpaper. He was completely relaxed with no reason to be so.

"Don't talk to me." I spat.

"Ouch! Feisty…." He squirmed as if pretending my words had any effect on him at all and made him itch. "So…" he started off and I scowled at nothing in particular in his complete lack of following y order of shutting up. "Do you want to hear the bad news first or the okay-but-still-not-great-news?" he turned his body to me, leaning his right shoulder against the wall with his hands still in his pockets and an aloof expression on his aristocratic features..

"How many times will I have to repeat myself?" I asked incredulously. "I don't wish to speak to you right now." I said each word separately like he was a four year old.

"Then allow me to re-word my previous question…" he put his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat before continuing. "Do you want to hear how the cops are hot on our trail or the play-by-play of how I just ripped the Minister's throat out?" He waited only a few short seconds to let his words sink in. Then, when I didn't give him any reply, he said, "Great party, by the way, isn't it?" He raised his eyebrows shortly and lifted his glass in a one-sided 'cheers' gesture before walking away nonchalantly into the crowd of unsuspecting people.

It took me a few minutes to collect my scattered, shocked thoughts then I stomped my way around the large flat of people until I found him at the bar, conversing innocently with the Minister's son of all people!

"Give me a Scotch, I'm starving!" he told the bartender, slamming his left hand on the counter to rouse her attention. He turned back to the Minister's son with an agreeing smile and I grabbed his arm roughly and pulled him away to the side of the room so that none of the guests would hear us. The raven haired man's glass of dark liquor danced in his diaphanous glass with my rough-handling- some of the scotch almost splashing out onto the purely white carpet.

"You killed the Minister!"

"He had it commin'." He waved his hand flippantly, as if it were some small matter. "Why did you think we were looking for him?"

"I'm being serious! You said we 'needed to see the Sinister of Suna because he was a friend'!" I whispered harshly, deepening my voice to sound like him, and trying not to gain any attention. "This is extremely illegal- even for you!"

"No need to be snarky about it." He chided, not taking me seriously at all.

I grabbed the ridge of my nose to hard that I was sure it would break to collect my thoughts and calm myself. "We need to dispose of the body." I stated the obvious after a moment and gave him my best 'and-don't-you-even-think-about-saying-no' glare. "Where did you leave it at?"

He led me back to the garden behind the bitumen plateau again. He pointed to the shadows at something and walked onto the soft grass in his black, shiny shoes. I followed suit until he stopped just in front of some shrubbery. I searched around the cultivated plants and the hidden paths in the darkness of the shadows to make sure nobody was around to catch us.

He walked through the shrub, without caring if he ripped his pants or not on the thorns, and dragged something heavy a few feet out of the security of the hiding spot. The Minister's mangled body was still dressed in his celestial attire but when Sasuke had said that he _ripped his throat out_ he wasn't joking. The man's throat was completely missing.

"Where is it?" I interrogated the raven haired man squatting next to the corpse with this arms resting limply on his knees. He blinked at me a few times and stood. He seemed to know that I was asking about the chunk of flesh missing from the man's body. He lifted his foot slightly off the grass and nudged something with the toe of his shoe that I couldn't see in the shadows, but it sounded squishy and squelched when his shoe made contact with it. I didn't need to see it to know that it was the man's esophagus. The red blood on the Uchiha's shoe once he pulled away was enough proof for me.

I didn't ask any more questions. "What should we do with him?" I asked and Sasuke smiled widely.

* * *

**DAY FIVE**

The desert was still as hot as it had been two days before and the sun was about to rise.

I had asked him after a long silence why he had done it- killed the Minister. I didn't understand how he could kill someone whose existence required pious action. I only got a short, curt reply of, "He was the man who committed me into the hospital all those years ago…..Besides! The party needed some _excitement_!" he did his little eye-wagging expression that he always when he said something inappropriate and knew I couldn't do anything to punish him for it.

The clock on the dashboard of the car said it was just past 4:00 a.m.. The party was probably still going but when Sasuke suggested we bury the body in the desert, I guessed it was because he thought it would be some kind of a heart-felt reunion.

"You and I met in a desert, Sakura. Therefore, we will bury him in the desert _together_." He had supplied his reasoning. So, I didn't argue because I couldn't think of anywhere better than a dune of sand. I just didn't like the way he said it; like he was saying goodbye. It was like he thought this was the last thing we would do together so he was stressing the importance of burying him _with_ each other. I knew it would be ridiculous of me to believe that he would let me tag around with him forever, and I didn't think that for one second- I knew better than to delude myself with such thoughts, but I thought that we would at least be together for a little while after making it to Sound Country. I had thought that once we were safe there that he would find it to be the most opportune time to kick me out of the car and speed off to do whatever it was that he was going to do as a free man. I silently hoped to myself that I was imagining his goodbye insinuations.

We had jacked a better car from the parking lot, a slick and black Mercedes, and were driving at top speed through the sand roads. I looked to the Uchiha to see his face, but it was void as always. I don't know how long I watched him but, like before, he didn't say anything or tell me to stop if he noticed my gaze. I watched him until I noticed a glint of emotion on his face.

He glared at the radio and snatched his hand out to turn the volume knob up, listening carefully to a man's voice.

_"…..police have discovered the hideout of the two serial…."_ It was hard to hear over the static, but I immediately knew what the news broadcaster would say next. _"Suna Villa Hotel room after murdering Hiroku Tatsuhara. The two were believed to have taken refuge in his hotel room after….."_ the static cut out the next few words. _"…Body was found in the garbage chute this morning and the police believe that the murder was tied to the strings of killings of three bus guards, two Suna citizens, and a gas station clerk. The first four of which were committed in Konoha's desert just off Highway 67…Police believe that the trail is only becoming easier to follow and that the suspects will soon be under arrest….."_

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!" Sasuke yelled beside me, startling me with his sudden fierceness, and repeatedly banged the steering wheel with each expletive that escaped off from his tongue.

"You're acting a little crazy, Sasuke. It's just a minor setback." I reassured him but he gave me a glare that showed he wasn't buying it for one second. "Could you please try to not break the car and help me get the body out of the trunk? The sun is going to rise soon and I don't want to be digging a hole in the blistering heat."

"You're a twisted one, aren't you." He asked with amusement painting his lips and dripping from his tongue. His moods curved from pissed to irrational to intrigued so fast they were like balls bounding around his head. I could never keep up with its swings.

"That's ironic coming from you, Mr. 'I-kill-political-figure-heads-because-I'm-bored'!"

"Touché. Just make sure it's six feet this time, woman. I'm thorough, if nothing else, so don't screw it up." He was more stressed out about the whole cop thing that I had thought.

"That's too bad. I do love screwing." I sighed and he smirked.

* * *

After burying the body I had whined repeatedly until Sasuke gave in and agreed to find somewhere to sleep, other than the car. I was covered in sweat from the labor of digging so much heavy, brittle sand and was glad for a shower. We had passed right by Suna Village and he chose a motel that was conveniently in-between Suna Village and Sound Village.

The motel was called Shore Inn, but the 'h' was missing so it ended up spelling 'sore' instead. It was cheap and the carpet smelled like old, sour potatoes but at least it had running water and air-conditioning.

I walked out of the bathroom, clean and refreshed, to find Sasuke resting in a chair in front of the large, curtained window. The shutters were shut but there was a small amount of light from the bathroom shining into the room to allow me to see him. He was sitting with his legs spread and relaxed, hands clasped behind his head, and rear scooted forward so he could slouch his back against the back rest of the chair.

"I wonder what the families are thinking at the funerals….if they want you dead or are too mournful to care about you. I wonder what they would say to you if you were there…." I dried my hair with the brown towel from the small cupboard, not saying it but he knew that I was talking about the people he killed.

"I didn't attend the funeral but I sent a well-written letter saying that I approved of it." He argued on behalf of himself as if he were solidly rational, though he knew himself to be wrong and immoral. He was always the devil's advocate in any discussion because morality made him itch. He told me it had been that way for as long as he could remember. He guessed he was born that way.

We didn't talk for the rest of the time that it took me to brush the rats out of my hair. Sasuke seemed to be thinking about something very hard and he studied me with ultimate concentration. He never moved; like a statue.

After a moment Sasuke laughed loudly at a silent thought in his own warped mind, uncaring if he seemed strange or frightening in such an unusual human gesture. It seemed he would never be able to behave properly because he didn't even purposely act insane. There was no attempt on his part in being the image of the perfect lunatic in the imaginations of others- and I didn't mean that in good way, or bad. He was, indeed, the ultimate psychopath and ideal sociopath for he did not care or feel any remorse whatsoever. I would easily believe his only good, somewhat-human deed was in offering me to go with him that day at the bus. He saved me from death in that desert and he could have easily chosen not to. I bet myself he wouldn't have lost a wink of sleep over it either. He most likely would have coughed out a cackling laugh and praised himself for his devilish ways while playing elevator music in the distant background.

I mused over this thought, pleased with my latest divulge into his vast psyche, and jumped into the only bed in the room. I didn't know why Sasuke had gotten only a one-bed room when he could have gotten one with two beds for the same price. But, I was exhausted from everything that had happened in the past four days and didn't think too much of it. I pulled the covers up to my chin and fanned my damp hair over the pillow behind me.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" I asked, whispering through the dark to him. He was still sitting in the chair, looking at me.

"I'm fine right here." His voice was velvet again and I drifted off to sleep short after.

* * *

I woke up to the bed jostling with the weight of another body. I tried to open my eyes, but something was obscuring my view- a piece of fabric around my head- but I could tell it was daytime because a small amount of light was shining through the cloth. A pair of large hands grabbed my left wrist and held it to the headboard of the bed against the wall. I attempted to move my right hand to stop the strange grip but it was stuck, tied by something, and my left was being tied as well. I wasn't strong enough to break the strong hand's hold before it, too, was strapped down with what felt like torn fabric. The strings hanging from where it was torn tickled my wrists whenever I tried to break free.

"Sasuke?" I called out in a shaky voice to the unknown, unseen room.

"Hn." was all he said to let me know it was him. I immediately felt a rush of relief at his voice. It sounded like he was close and I guessed he was standing at the side of the bed.

My heart was racing and I felt my chest moving erratically with my over-worked breathing. It felt like I just ran ten miles. _This is it…._ I thought to myself in pity. I was sure he was going to kill me now. He got what he was looking for since the beginning, the Minister, and now he didn't need me anymore. He wasn't the kind of man to drag along something that was of no use to him. He liked to 'travel light'. I scrunched my eyes together, waiting for the final blow.

"What are you doing?" I exhaled and inhaled deeply to try and calm myself when I waited for him to kill me. But it never came.

"I'm sorry, but this is for your own good." He left it short and to-the-point again.

"What?" I cried out and he hushed me.

"The police will be here in a few hours, Sakura." He explained. "When they find you, tell them you were my hostage." His voice was flat, but strained. "Tell them you were blind-folded, so you don't know where you are, and you don't know where I'm going." He finished and I heard his feet skim the carpeting, making their way to the door.

I heard the door creak open and felt a flood of heat wave in from outside onto my skin, battling the cool air of the room. "Where _are_ you going?" I asked, frightened. I didn't want to be left alone. I wanted to go with him.

"The only place I'll be safe." And then he walked out the door. I could hear it shut softly and the light that shone in through my blind-fold cut off immediately when it closed completely. He was going to Suna and leaving me there, I realized. I had been right earlier that day when I had thought I heard a goodbye in his words. How long had he been planning this for? How long had he been deceiving me for, making me think I was going to Sound with him, I wondered? The question rolled around my head, repeating itself and repeating itself.

* * *

It wasn't long before the police found me, strapped to a head-board, and cut me free. They hauled me into a large truck and handcuffed me on the way back to Konoha. We made no stops and there were no breaks in their questioning. They said that it was of the utmost importance to find out where he was heading and that they needed to question me effective immediately. They interrogated me in the dark truck with the tinted windows and bench-like, metal seats.

I told them what Sasuke had said. I was a hostage. They believed me so easily because I had been bound and blinded. They saw it as reasonable evidence to trust my false words.

I told them I was blinded with the fabric, so I couldn't see his face. I didn't remember what he looked like and I didn't know where we had gone or how many people he had killed. I said that he had never spoken to me; therefore, I couldn't possibly know for sure where he was going. I lied and said that I heard him talking on a phone about going to Mist Village.

The only time I told the truth was then they had asked my why he had kept _me_ alive- out of all the others. "I don't know." I had whispered.

They deemed me an un-creditable suspect/witness and let me free to return to my life. Doctor Kura, the therapist from the mental hospital that oversaw Sasuke, was arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison for bribery and, basically, letting loose such a 'lunatic' in the first place. The detectives saw it as the doctor's fault that Sasuke was released into the world. They said that it was irresponsible of him to allow his patients to travel without proper supervision and his actions had caused the deaths of approximately eight people.

I knew it was ten, though, and they had goofed up in their information somewhere. I would remember them all for the rest of my life; the three guards, the gas station clerk, the two drivers in the desert, the man at the hotel, the two in the alley (Makimi and Hirotsu Midarami), and the Minister. Sasuke had killed 74 people, all-together.

He had saved me, in his own little way. Did that mean that, even though he denied and hated it, there was still a small shred of humanity in him? And the bigger question was, how can you love someone you've never kissed, hugged, or really knew? But I did.

I loved him so much that I was willing to go to prison to stay with him. So much that I was willing to give up my own humanity to be with him- to understand him.

I shook my thoughts from my head and entered my boss's office. The door was heavy, ensuring that voices would not travel outside of its barrier, but I somehow made it in and sat in the green seat set in front of the desk.

I was accepted back at my old job after the failed interrogation by the police and I was found innocent, just as Sasuke had planned. It was sedentary compared to how used to life as a criminal I had become. Things that used to excite me seemed to not entertain or keep my mind occupied anymore. I was used to 'Sasuke life', as I called it. Too used.

"Sakura." Tsunade, whom I worked for, cleared her throat.

"Hm?"

"I know that what you were put through must have been traumatic….I can't begin to imagine…." She shifted in her seat and leaned forward on the desk, knitting her fingers together under her chin. "I'm worried about you." Her eyebrows tied together by an invisible string when she spoke. Her words seemed to have to falsities and she seemed to be genuinely concerned.

"What do you mean?" I inquired curiously.

"You don't seem yourself here anymore and I am certain that it is this atmosphere." He cleared her throat again and crossed her legs under her desk. "There is a doctor who is hiring Psychologists and had I think that you would be perfect for the job." I tried to argue when she finished but she cut me off. "Consider it some kind of vacation, Sakura. If you don't like the new working atmosphere or your new boss you can come back here. But just give it a try, okay?" she was almost begging.

I sucked in a deep breath, knowing that even if I said no she would still send me away, and nodded in approval. "Where is it?"

"Sound Village. You'll be working for some guy that goes by the name of _Hirotsu Midarami_."

I smiled.

End.


	2. II: Second Meeting

Natural Born Killers Part II

Second Meeting

* * *

_8 He sits in the lurking places of the villages;  
__in the secret places he murders the innocent;  
__his eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless._

_9 He lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den;  
He lies in wait to catch the poor;  
He catches the poor when he draws him into his net._

_10 So he crouches, he lies low, that the helpless may fall by his strength._

Psalms 10: 8-10

* * *

Psychopathy: A mental disorder in which an individual manifests amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.

Both the _financial elite and their underlings_, who maintain this system, appear to exhibit behavior that is consistent with symptoms associated with a medical disorder known as psychopathy. Psychopaths, also called sociopaths, are categorized as those who exhibit superficial charm and intelligence, and are absent of delusions or nervousness. Their traits include:

Unreliability,  
Frequent lying,  
Deceitful and manipulative behavior (either goal-oriented or for the delight of the act itself),  
Lack of remorse or shame,

Antisocial behavior,

Poor judgment and failure to learn by experience,

Incapacity for love,

Poverty of general emotions,

Loss of insight,

Unresponsiveness in personal relations,

A frequent need for excitement,

An inflated self-worth,

An ability to rationalize their behavior,

A need for complete power,

A need to dominate others.

* * *

To say that the ride to Sound the second time was better was an understatement. I fully enjoyed the air-conditioned and fluffy-seated bus that rode at a steady forty-five mph the entire way. It was far better than riding with Mr. Bloodbath and his fanatical _need_ to degrade and humiliate others.

Tsunade had been all too generous with her goodbyes and had requested that I let her pay for my ticket, seeing as how I would have never went through what I had went through if she had let me have the day off that I had requested. But instead she had made me work and Dr. Kura had insisted I bring his patient to Burodu Village. I sighed at the memory, glad I would never have to return to the past again. Even though it had only been a two weeks ago since the first time the irate Uchiha and I had met, it seemed so far away.

But now I was on my way to him again, willingly this time to my own surprise, and I couldn't help but wonder why I was intentionally putting myself into the same position as before. I wasn't daft and I knew what would happen when I met him again. Sasuke was not the kind of guy to stop what he enjoyed doing just because it made me uneasy- and I felt guilty that I was planning on meeting him once more without any intentions of stopping him. Was I originally crazy or was I more like him that I had thought, I had to ask myself?

Even with all of my degrees that still hung on the old wall in my apartment back home, I could not answer this question. But, I did not mind this as much as I should have.

I should have been furious that he had the audacity to call me to 'work for him' and should have laughed and ignored the request. If I was as smart as I boasted, I would have stayed working for Tsunade in her safe, well-lit office where dead bodies were _not_ precariously strewn across the floor upon entering. But, as it was, I didn't even think of that option until half-way to Sound.

But, now, as the bus was coming closer and closer to the village and I could see the gates already, I had the startling thought of, "What the fuck do you think you are doing?"

Maybe it was the coffee I had just chugged in record time; my heart was pounding so hard that my bag that lay on my lap was moving in time with it. I felt like I would on the first day of school, naked. I had never been to Sound before and I was frightened about the unfamiliar surroundings. The lack of color on the walls of the first buildings were the complete opposite of Konoha's red ones and I shivered when I realized, after wondering for so long, that the reason I was giving up my entire life and home to see him again was because a) I was crazy, b) I loved him, c) I was nutty-cuckoo crazy, or d) I was craving the excitement. I wasn't in the mood to psychoanalyze myself, so I stared out of the windows and breathed slowly to regain my previous groundings as the bus pulled to a stop in front of the station.

But the colors of the village were never-changing. The rain seemed to have washed them out until everything was dark greys and russet tans. The bus station took on an even more depressing quality in the shadow of the sky than the gates had, and I found myself flustered and jumpy. My hands were shaking with such ferocity that I dropped my bag from the overhead compartment onto the top of my head before picking it up with a few muttered expletives and charged off of the large vehicle and through the tall glass doors of the building with new, enlightened fervor.

I didn't know what to do with myself once I entered- I felt out-of-place with my strange hair and vibrant clothes. I was obviously not a local civilian and others noticed almost immediately that I did not belong; I was naturally adventive. I had never gotten the "stink face" from anyone before in my life, but now I was sure what it felt like to have it one hundred times in a row.

"You look lost," said a dull voice from my left as I looked around frantically to find out which port to access from. Sasuke hadn't even told Tsunade where I should meet him at (just as inconvenient as ever), so I was on my own. This didn't seem promising. If Sasuke didn't want to be found, he would not be found.

"Yeah, I am," I replied, giving the tall brunette boy a sparing glance then began walking forward towards a random gate-lane, trying to give him an idea that I did not want to talk to any random strangers. But, he was clearly as daft as he looked because he kept following me and offering conversation.

"You want some help?" he asked. "Most of the time, when tourists come here, whoever their looking for is on the east end of the station. It's where the docks are to meet," he stated like he spent a lot of time in said station.

"I don't know if I should…" I began, growing more and more anxious when the gate-lane seemed to lead to nothing but a loading-dock for a bus to Kiri.

"Why shouldn't you?" he questioned with a strange look, like I was weird or something. And I guessed I _was_ sounding a little strange to brush him off when he was kind enough to go out of his way to help. I didn't know what to do, so I just nodded and followed the boy, keeping a few steps of distance between us as I walked behind his tall frame.

"Excuse me," a hand grabbed my right shoulder, turning me around so fast I thought I would fall due to the weight of my bag. "Are you Haruno Sakura?" the large man asked and gave an indifferent look to the boy I had been following. I nodded in affirmation and he took my bags off of my shoulders.

"Hey! What do you-"

"I was told to come and get you by your…. _friend_." Was all he stated. "You're lucky I saw your hair or I wouldn't have found you." But before I could reply, he was dragging me to the other direction of the station- opposite from where the boy had said the meeting docks were.

"Hey!" said boy came running after us and the large man holding my arm roughly did nothing but simply turn towards the boy, pull aside a bit of his suit to reveal a gun held snugly in its holster, then continue dragging my confused body through Gate F.

"Who the _fuck_are you?" I yelled, causing multiple people to stare.

"Sasuke asked me to come and pick you up. He was busy," his voice was monotone and his head was slightly calvous, even though he could not be more than thirty years old. "Never agree to anyone's help when it's offered, unless you know the person," Was all of the explanation he gave.

"He was helping me to the meeting docks on the east wing," I tried to defend the poor boy.

"There is nothing on the east wing but dark corners and basements," He said, giving me a meaningful look and pushing me gently into the back seat of a darkly-tinted car, then walking to the trunk and pushing my bags in. I heard the trunk slam shut and the car was in motion, leaving the large man behind on the curb with his suit and gun.

* * *

I don't know how long it was before I was thrown, non-too-ceremoniously, into a dark, dusty room with overstuffed chairs and a fire crackling in the dibbet of the opposite wall. It seemed that, in the past few weeks, time didn't seem to matter in any substantial way. Hours could skip and it would feel like minutes. The flames were the only light-force to see by and I tried to feel my way along the wall behind me for a light-switch to see better with. But my hand paused when I heard him.

"Sakura," the familiar voice spoke from a large chair in the shadows against the wall beside the fireplace dibbet. "I trust your ride here was enjoyable," I could hear the smirk on his face. "I'm glad Brahm found you successfully," he spoke, I guessed, about the man left at the curb. "There are a lot of things that could happen to someone like you here in Sound…if you're alone," He finished, letting his smirk drop off his face almost abruptly.

"Why did you do all of this? Did you really miss me that much?" I asked, gesturing all around me and trying not to sound as ill-at-ease as I felt. I walked slowly toward him, testing the waters, before he gestured to the chair in front of him facing his own. I took it, mumbling something about over-theatrical meetings, but never looked away from him. After all, no matter our past together, I knew I should not trust the man. He noticed my guarded movements and laughed, if you could call it that- it was more of a cackle, to himself behind his fist before covering it childishly with a pseudo-cough.

"Don't get cocky, I'm not one for child's play," He flicked my nose as I rested into the seat, leaning forward on his knees with his elbows. "I'm brewing an idea and I want your professional opinion…" he looked deep into my face then sat back in the dusty chair and grinned, clenching his teeth together so hard that I could hear them grinding, like gears in an old clock-tower.

"What's your idea?" I almost growled, already wary of his motives of calling for my recurring appearance.

"Oh, nothing big," he held his hand next to the fire place so close that I wasn't sure if he was trying to warm his fingers or catch them on fire, just for the fun of watching them burn. He seemed to follow my eyes and retracted his hand to have my full attention on his words instead. "I want to kill somebody," he said slowly, testing the waters to see my reaction.

"How does that not surprise me?" I threw up my hands and slapped them back onto my thighs in aggravation, trying not to become too annoyed too swiftly and failing spectacularly.

"Don't you wanna' know who it is?" he inquired melodically, trying to grasp me into playing along for his own hollow pleasure. "You might be intrigued…." He almost begged my interest.

"Start from the beginning, Sasuke," I barked. If he wanted me to give him my professional opinion, I would. And I would be as harsh and truthful as possible the whole way through.

"The beginning?" he asked, quirking his head to the side and scratching the back of his left ear in a way that was nothing less than utterly feline. "Hmmm…." He examined his nails and clicked his tongue, a glint shining in his eye. "Well, when I saw you at the mental hospital with Dr. Kura I thought you looked like a bimbo- what with that little doctor's attire-" he smiled at the memory and I blushed, pressing my lips together and turning away to look at the fire instead. "But, seeing your expression after killing those guards on the bus, I decided that you were a _dumb_ bimbo-"

"Don't be snarky with me, you imbecile-"

"I thought we already went over this, Sakura," he chided. "I'm quite sure I'm smarter than even _you_are," He was so egocentric, and I loved it. But, I wouldn't let him know that so I just settled for a secret smile. But he still held his hands up in an elusive gesture. "Only kidding," he shook his head and sighed. "I thought you looked nice in your little…." He coughed again but this time to hide a knowing smirk. "Nurse's outfit."

"Can we just talk about what we're _supposed_ to be talking about, please...like _adults_?" I pleaded, clicking my pen into action and adjusting the clipboard on my lap.

"Well, when I made it to Sound I realized that I may have had a lapse in judgment when I let you free…." He put his hand to his chin and thought for a few hard minutes as an unseen clock somewhere in the darkness of the room clicked raucously with its ticking and tocking. "At least the cops are off our trail, though," he changed the subject into whatever new train of thought he had started. "And we can get back to the fun without anyone knowing to be looking for _us_…especially since they don't know where I went and they think you're working for that Midarami guy," He smiled at me, not saying it in words, but thanking me for my cooperating silence in his get-away.

"I don't see how this has anything to do with your new _plan_…." I egged him on.

"Patience is a virtue, Sakura-_chan_," he started off mockingly. "But I suppose I'll cut to the chase and skip all the pleasantries, yes?"

"Like you've _ever_been pleasant before…," I mumbled under my breath and he waved a finger to silence me gently with a light "tsk tsk".

"While you were being interrogated in Konoha, I grew bored without your face around to keep me amused," he smirked and I threw him a glare. "So, I decided to go to a nice restaurant with the money left over from that guy at the hotel we killed-"

"_You _killed! You, you, Y. O. U!" I snarled, pointing an accusing finger in his face and gripping the armrest with as much force as I could. "Stop slinging me into your own problems!"

He stared until I found my bearings and sat back again. "Anyway, as I was saying before I was _rudely_ interrupted…." He sighed, folding his hands behind his head and leaning back in the chair until its legs were on their extreme edge. His legs spread in comfort and I was amazed he didn't fall backward. "While I was eating my steak, I was growing increasingly irritated. There was a man at the table next to me, boisterously complaining about the meat being too overcooked. He had some blond broad sipping wine loudly next to him, too. So, I thought to myself, 'What would Haruno Sakura do in a situation like this?...'" he looked up to the ceiling and sighed, speaking the next words straightforwardly with the same smooth tenor of voice that I had grown so accustomed to so quickly. "Then I did the opposite of that," He smiled crookedly at the memory.

I opened my mouth to say something- anything- but nothing came out. He gently took his pointer finger and closed my chin for me, continuing:

"It was hard for him to complain about the customer-service with my steak and napkin shoved down his esophagus. I forget what happened to the slurping woman," he made a show of thinking hard for a moment. "But I think it had something to do with a steak-knife and her head resting on a cutting board."

"What the _fuck_is wrong with y-" I tried to yell but he cut me off for the millionth time. He had a nasty habit of doing that ever since we met.

"I know right?" he chirped, shrugging his shoulders. "Don't worry, Hun; I didn't let his steak go to waste. I ate it for him," He seemed proud of himself. "He was much better table company when he was asphyxiated- don't give me that look! They got what was coming,- but that woman's severed head kept staring at me….plus the steak _was_overcooked, after all…" he chuckled and wiped the inner corner of his eye. "Oops," He shrugged and connected his fingers over his stomach happily as if remembering the meal. "I don't think that restaurant will be getting much more business, though."

"You're…" I tried to make the words come out again, but couldn't continue over my swollen tongue.

"Amazing? I know, I know, but I haven't even gotten to the best part yet," he leaned forward for dramatic effect, staring wildly into my trussed eyes with a feral grin. "The guy I killed turned out to be the Kage of Sound's enemy, Matori Setaru!" he whispered and I felt his cool breath fan my chin. "So, after hearing of me, the Kage ended up calling me to his office and offering me a special position," he said proudly, elated in himself. At my confused face, he explained, "The Kage is like a president of the village. Much like Tsunade is where you're from."

"What do you mean, 'special position'?" I whispered, not sure that I wanted to know why this all pertained to me. It seemed that I would never get away from him and his chaos, and that thought didn't unsettle me as much as it should have.

"I'm working for Sound now," He said plainly, as if he didn't know or care how creepy it sounded. People who worked for Sound were not the kind of people that _worked_, if that's what he meant. Plus, I wasn't stupid. I knew what he was talking about, but I still wanted to hear it from his own mouth.

"I'm in charge of his new dispatch," He sat back in the chair again once my reactions were becoming boring to him.

"His what?" I turned my head, asking in a whisper.

"Dispatch, assassin, thug, slumdog, "_the man in the shadows with all the answers,_"" he reiterated with wagging brows and dark eyes. "Either one of those synonyms will work. Take your pick."

"You're going to kill for him?" I all but screamed and stood so fast that my head almost flew off through the ceiling.

"Well, yeah," he said as if I should have known all along. "What else am I going to do? Get a _normal_ job?" he said, like it were an impossible outcome, and raised his upper lip over his straight teeth in disgust with an almost audible huff_. _"Can you really picture me as _anything_but what I am? Killing people is fun in general; Doing it and getting paid for my services is an honor," He put his hand over his heart and closed his eyes lightly in reverence to show just how much of an honor it seemed to be.

"I still don't see why you need me," I admonished, shaking my head and sending my roseate bangs to brush my face. "But my professional opinion will be the same as the first time we met: you're raving mad…..and the outcome _is_ a tad bit interesting, to be honest," We smiled daftly at each other. "Do you know what your problem is, Sasuke?"

"No, but I bet it's hard to pronounce."

"You're a psychopath," I finally said. I had never told him straight-out before, in so many words. I had danced around the subject with him, but never actually said it out loud- not even to myself.

"So, that's your all-encompassing diagnosis, Doc?" he laughed.

"You're the worst kind, too; a charismatic, diabolical, compelling genius with a vendetta towards anything and everything that's humane or gets in your way. Just like every communist or totalitarian leader in history…Hitler was the same as you, but not as compelling, I guess," I drawled, circling my stiff wrist. I had been holding my pen so hard that it was becoming sore.

All he did was "Hn," for a moment. "I guess I'm meant to lead a country then," he sighed jokingly, and then there was a long pause of silent thinking.

"I guess I'm in on whatever's going on. After all, I can't leave you alone or the whole world could fall to shit. I don't want you accidentally becoming Kage or something while I'm gone. That would just be too cruel of fate," I accepted.

"Hold on before you commit to anything," he held up a finger and I looked at him strangely for his hesitation. "I have a little life-lesson for you; a metaphor, if you will-"

"Eugh! Please don't-" he changed subjects so fast that I didn't know what he was going to talk about next. _He_ was the one who offered me this and when I was about to accept, he stops me and tries to professor me?

"_Once upon a time, in the middle of the day, there was a sea turtle and a rattlesnake,"_he began in a clergy-like tone, a-melodically, letting out a loose breath and drawing a new one in to continue with-

"Sea turtles and rattlesnakes don't like each other enough to have a story together; let alone a rattlesnake be slithering around where a sea turtle is... Plus, rattlesnakes _sleep_ during the day," I thought I should point that out, but he continued as if I had never spoken.

"_You see, the rattlesnake sauntered up to the sea turtle and, with a hissy little voice like yours, he said, "Green Turtle, may I offer you a proposal?" But the turtle was wary of the stranger because she had just laid her eggs in the sand and was vulnerable to enemies. She was also small and weak compared to him, you see, and had a way of _always_ getting herself into trouble with the wrong kinds of people,"_ He gave me a certain look and for a second I didn't know if he was telling a strange story, like the way he usually did confusing things, or talking about _us_ in this metaphor of his.

"_But, still, she replied to the snake cordially saying, "Yes, you may," so as not to seem rude."_ He kept going, giving a voice and certain hand gestures to the turtle character that looked and sounded suspiciously like my own.

"_So the dangerous rattlesnake bowed his scaly head and played nice. "I hear that you have just laid your eggs, so I am guessing that other turtles are laying theirs as well," he began softly. "I was going to offer you a deal."_

"_What deal?" she asked, intrigued by his_ unusual _nature._

"_I will not eat your eggs if you will bring me across this gulf of ocean to the other side where I will find a different meal. I have heard that giant turtles lay their eggs on that beach and I would like a larger set of eggs to dine on," He explained good-naturedly._

"_That sounds nice, but how can I be sure you will not kill me while crossing through the water?" she asked, hesitant._

"_Silly she-turtle; I will do you no harm," he laughed. "If I killed you while crossing, I would drown and die as well."_

_The turtle lady decided that the snake's reasoning was sound and agreed to accompany him to the other side of the gulf._

_They set out on their journey as the sun was setting in the evening and the waters were calm and fare. The turtle's back was comfortable and strong, and the rattlesnake was becoming hungry because he usually ate at night. And as he looked down upon the turtle's bared neck, he licked his lips and chomped into the tender flesh with his long, slithery teeth._

_The turtle screamed, "Now we both will drown!" accusingly; and the rattlesnake replied, "Forgive me. It is in my nature. I could not be _anything_ more than what I am.""_

Sasuke finished his little parable and stood with a flippant wave of his hand, stretching his arms above his head with a relieved, content sigh. He seemed noticeably taller than he had the last time we had seen each other, but I tried to ignore the thought and the way his shirt slightly rode up from his heavenward-stretched arms.

"What did you tell me all of that for?" I asked after he had finished and returned to aiding the fire closely with his fingers, kneeling by the dibbet.

"It's just a preamble to the future, Sakura. That is all," He got up, shrugged and leaned forward- resting his hands upon my armrests until our faces were merely inches apart. "Think of this as a solatium in return for the inconveniences you suffered at my hand recently."

He held out his hand and I shook it quickly, before reason could show up and change my mind. "Deal?" he threw a dashing smirk into the closed air between us.

"It's a deal," I said. I had a tingling on my neck and a sinking feeling in my gut that I would end up getting bitten soon.

"Fine," he gave me a show of teeth triumphantly. "The Kage and I are going to need someone to do the boring, responsible work; that's where you come in handy, Little Miss. I'm going to be one of the financial elite and you will be my underling." He got up and walked to a large davenport covered in a cascade of contained alcohol in large, clear glasses. But he didn't pour any. He just raked his fingers across the bottles, listening with his head quirked and eyes closed to the harmonic jingling of his actions. "First things first, I guess," he sighed. "You can get yourself situated here tonight. Tomorrow we'll try to find somewhere to stay for the time being- and you'll need to meet the Kage. …Our first job is three days from now." He explained slowly to let it finally sink in, all traces of joking dropping from his presence.

I nodded and he left the room almost immediately. The unlatched, crookedly-hanging door scuffled and scraped across the old wooden floor as it opened and closed behind him.

"Goodnight," I whispered to his absent form and tried to find my way through the dark room to a better light source, but quickly gave up when I found the bed instead and decided sleep was much more attractive of an idea.

I dreamed again about Sasuke. He was lying with his head in my lap and his eyelids fluttered as he slept.

* * *

"Wake up," his voice sounded faraway, garbled like his mouth was full, and I was still half asleep as I sat up in the bed and rubbed my eyes. The blanket had fallen to the floor during my tossing and the room was still a little chilly.

There was barely any light through the window's thick curtains and the clock that had been hidden in the darkness the night before signified that it was only five in the morning. I growled and threw myself back onto the bed. "Don't you ever sleep?" I covered my head with my arms and rolled over to my stomach.

"Nmf," he stated simply and I guessed he said 'no' but it was hard to tell. I peeked out from under my arm to see Sasuke brushing his teeth with a bright pink toothbrush, as if nothing was amiss. He was completely at ease- knowing that, even with such a girly object in his mouth, he could never be looked at and thought of as anything other than the epitome of man. Cheeky bastard.

"Is that my toothbrush?" I mumbled into the sheets.

He just nodded a yes and walked away.

* * *

By the time I showered and annoyed Sasuke enough into going out and buying me a new toothbrush (he ordered some guy standing outside the door in a suit to do it instead, the insubordinate prick), it was light out enough to be considered appropriate morning time. I was still holding a grudge against him for waking me up at such an unforgiving hour but he didn't seem to care in the slightest.

The roads were soft dirt and villagers stared wherever we passed. I guessed it was because either Sasuke was known here (after the squabble in the restaurant he told me about, he was bound to be picked out in a crowd easily. People didn't easily forget things like that) or because I looked completely out-of-touch….again. They must have noticed that I didn't belong and I hoped that once I settled down that I could find some new clothes- or maybe get facial reconstructive surgery- to fit in better.

"Where are we going?" I asked, having to walk twice as fast as I usually did to keep up with his long strides. He was looking around for something, but I didn't know what. I never knew what he was ever searching for. I sighed, helpless.

"We're going to find somewhere better to stay," he put it simply. "If you haven't noticed, I'm not the kind of person to live in a place like the one we stayed in last night. We were only there for the time being because the Kage thought it would be better to lay you low for the first ten hours."

"Wait…" I stopped walking and he turned with an impatient gaze and a tapping foot in my direction. "We're living _together_?"

"Duh," he said out of the corner of his mouth and gave one particular man on the side of the street a glare for staring. "I'm not paying for two houses. Take it or leave it," But he looked back to me with an open expression to see my answer.

"This is looked down upon in some cultures, ya' know," I admonished, hoping he would change his mind and get hotel rooms instead. I caught up to him again and continued walking wherever he was leading.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks," he stated. His voice sounded profoundly calm. It was the mirror of his face.

"Don't quote Hamlet to me," I worried my lip, biting it roughly with my teeth. I didn't know which direction we were headed but the rising sun was warming the air to a soothing luke-warm.

"What about Sophocles?" he asked, out of character.

"You're enough to drive me crazy," I sighed agitatedly then fixed him with a firm stare. He brushed my expression off and continued. He had been pushing my patience like this for the last few hours since waking up. Especially while I was in the shower; he had stood outside the door rambling about something or other to try and piss me off. I had almost barged out and smacked him at one sexually-conceited comment he made at my expense. He would say something surprising to get a rise out of me then cut off the conversation with something particularly crude, knowing I would not know how to reply to such a statement.

"That is the idea, Sakura," He licked his dry lips and continued to watch the shifting road of dirt under our feet.

"You're returning to your 'Id' state of mind and becoming more infantile every minute," I replied, not wanting him to have the last word. He would have to work for it.

"Freud is a fruit-cake," He challenged, eyeing me from the side.

"So was Sophocles."

"You're a clever speaker, but I am a bad student, for I have found you hostile and troubling to me," He quoted and it was the end of yet another battle of wits. He had won again.

It was a few more minutes until he turned onto a wider street with bitumen instead of dirt and a sallow building on the corner of a rather shady-looking neighborhood.

"We're here," he sang and climbed his way up the steps to the front entrance, holding the door open for me.

I walked in, looking to him over my shoulder, and threw him a lifted lip and ugly sneer when he gave me a widely-set grin. But when his eyes focused to look behind me his smile dropped immediately. I turned back around and stopped when I realized I almost walked into a metal object. It startled me enough to jump back to Sasuke's side and take a proper look at the contraption.

"What's your business here?" the tall, skinny man holding the gun towards us asked, looking only to Sasuke and ignoring my soft whimper. The weapon was long-ish and expensive looking- not that I knew much about guns at all- and I couldn't help but feel that he was trying to overcompensate for something. But the Uchiha didn't answer, instead keeping silent and staring challengingly back at the man as if he were not there at all. "I _said_-"

"I know what you said," Sasuke's voice was even more monotonous than usual and it put a strange tingle in the pit of my stomach. It was fierce and hollow. Its purpose was to degrade and control. But he still did not answer the question.

The offended man cocked the weapon and turned it from directing at both of us until it was pointed solely upon Sasuke, only a foot away from touching between his eyes. The man tried on a sneer, pulling his lips over his long teeth. He obviously thought he was quite frightening.

But- as Sasuke stared back at him with dark eyes focused almost directly down the barrel of the loaded gun, unflinchingly- the man seemed to waver in his own resolve. His sneer was replaced with awry confusion as he instinctually took a hesitant step back. Sasuke's impenetrable, hiemal gaze never faltered; perfectly calculating and instilling fear in its superior, animalistic quality. Sasuke knew that an unrelentingly unsympathetic and barbarous elucidation of expression could be far more terrifying than a gun in your face.

Perhaps it was the offending man's realization that Sasuke was immovable, or maybe it was how weak I was compared to the Uchiha next to me, that caused the man to point the gun in my face instead- looking for a better reaction that suited what he wanted in a victim. He got what he asked for as a surprised gasp filtered through my lips. The silence in the doorway grew even quieter and Sasuke's heavy footfalls echoed as he side-stepped in front of me. I was so much shorter than him that the barrel previously directed at my forehead was now pointed again at Sasuke, in the center of his sternum.

"What do you think you are doing?" the raven-haired man sucked on his teeth calmly and slowly grabbed the barrel from the other man, bringing it upward and touching it to his throat under his chin where it connected with his neck. He let it go, replacing his hand in his pocket and placing his weight on the balls of his feet. The two men stared at each other, challenging silently to see who would break first.

"That's quite enough," an authoritative voice cut through the room. A man in a long robe and large hat with a musical note embroidered on it stepped out of a heavy-looking office door, peering at the scene before him. The skinny man retracted the barrel from Sasuke's neck, throwing him one last shaky glance, and bowed to the robed man before leaning back against the wall where he must have been before we had entered. "I'm so happy you could make it. And you brought Sakura-san with you," he gave me a strange stare and his voice was like cracking bark in half, just as brittle and rustic.

"I did," Sasuke answered simply, not looking away from the man who leaned on the wall.

The robed man noticed his glare. "This is Gondo," he gestured to the wallflower-man, adjusting his large hat. "I have hired him to guard the entrance, but he seems to have taken a liking to his trigger finger lately."

"I can see that," Sasuke finished. The silence became awkward and everyone seemed to shift a little to the left. The Uchiha was a professional of turning these kinds of situations worse than they actually were.

"Next time I will make sure he behaves," the deep voiced man offered and gestured back to the door he had arrived from. "Please, follow me."

And we did.

* * *

I didn't voice it, but I was sure that this was not where we were going to find the house that Sasuke had been talking about earlier. This was definitely not a realty division. It was something more sinister, more underground.

Sasuke and the robed man spoke in charming voices that I did not understand, but I knew it was a language native to the region. Konoha and Sound were multicultural and politically indifferent to such things so it was natural that a counter-culture or sub-lingo would emerge in said areas. To think otherwise would only be an ignorant and redundant treatment of sociological reference. I merely surveyed the surrounding room while they spoke. The man in the robe laughed a lot and I guessed that Sasuke was warming him up- like he always did with others. Sasuke had a way of talking to people that could not be learned, only known, and nobody was immune to its charm.

"Sakura," I heard my name and perked up, sitting a little straighter. "This is the Kage," Sasuke addressed and pointed rudely to the robed man sitting at his lavishly sported monogamy desk.

"It's nice to meet you," I nodded to show my understanding and gave my generic reply in a small voice. The man was almost as intimidating as the Uchiha. Almost.

But the Kage ignored me completely, not even sparing me a glance. Like I was a useless child trying to play adult; needing to be seen and not heard. "I still don't see why you needed her," the man began what I could tell would be a lengthy notion. "We could find another suitable _man_ to take her job as your _assistance_," he intoned. "Women only complicate things, Sasuke, as you might already know-"

"No," Sasuke whistled lowly. "I don't know. Why don't you extrapolate?" I threw the dark haired man a sparing glance at his rudeness, but the Kage seemed to think that he was sincere. Perhaps I only realized the Uchiha's sarcastic, underlying meanings because I was used to pointing it out in conversation?

"As a great leader once said, "A woman should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, and nothing more,"" the Kage quoted. "Women only serve for two things in life: sex and housekeeping," he laughed at his own joke, but he was the only one. "Money and Women: the two reasons that men make their worst mistakes in life. I'm glad I got rid of my wife before I became President of this village, or I would surely have gone mad."

Sasuke found this last sentence amusing, at least, and tilted his head to the side, letting out an amused grunt. "Mad, you say?" he asked, mostly to himself, but got back on to the subject at hand. "I have to say that I utterly disagree," Sasuke dug deeper into his seat. "Sakura here is more intelligent than most men you could probably find," at this the Kage scoffed in unbelief. "And she's much easier on the eyes," he joked and I didn't appreciate the Kage's guffawing at my expense. I was about to yell at the Uchiha but he gave a look that could have turned a kettle blue. I realized he was still warming the man up, trying to connect with him and make him think they were similar in beliefs. "Plus I would like something to keep me _interested_ if I grow bored in-between jobs, if you know what I mean," he raised an eyebrow and the Kage seemed to catch on quickly with a knowing smile and looked to me for what seemed the first time. This time he didn't look through me, but he did look me from head to toe and seemed to nod in some kind of agreement or understanding to what Sasuke had meant.

"I suppose you can keep her then," the Kage resigned from his snickering and sighed. "I wonder if you're willing to share?" the robed man trailed off, staring at my crossed legs. I felt my fists stiffen on my lap and noticed Sasuke's hesitance next to me from the corner of my eye. The Kage hadn't been paying attention to him, but I had very closely and it was the only reason that I had perceived it: for the first time, Sasuke did not know what to do. His shoulders were tense and his hand paused midway to wherever he was going to put it before the Kage's outburst. It hung in the air a few inches above the hand-rest, like he didn't know what to do with it, but- just when I was about to ask him if he was okay- he spoke with a predisposition of coldness.

"I'm a selfish man. I'm sure you understand," Sasuke seemed to hold his breath and his eyes were narrowed. His chest wasn't moving in an inhaling or exhaling motion anymore and I wondered why I noticed such a small thing about him.

"Sure, sure," the Kage agreed, but didn't seem serious about the agreement at all. My hands began to sweat. I wondered just how well the Kage_ thought_ he knew Sasuke and was surprised that Sasuke hadn't killed him yet. Sasuke, the man who killed people for sipping their drinks too loudly, was letting the Kage speak to him in such a way….it was just too strange.

And then it hit me. The Kage must have had something that the Uchiha wanted….something that he wanted badly enough that he was refraining from killing him. And I knew that the raven haired man wanted to kill him because I could notice his hand twitching slightly towards a sharp object to his right, as if trying to decide whether or not to pick it up and use it as a knife, before deciding against it and resting back on the armchair. "It was just a joke," the Kage tried to settle the growing tension.

"Ah," Sasuke nodded slightly. "Silly me."

"Don't act so cold, Sasuke-kun," the Kage admonished, referring to Sasuke's void expression. "We're working together now, which calls for warmer, friendlier greetings."

"You have no idea the amount of effort that goes into my casual disinterest," The black eyed man threatened, but I was sure the Kage didn't notice the underlying menace in his tone because he started talking in that smooth, foreign language again.

And I wondered again just how well the Kage thought he knew Sasuke. Because, he surely didn't act like everyone else did around the Uchiha. I was sure that Sasuke had not informed the Kage on his…medical condition, which must have been why the leader-man wasn't showing a little more propriety in his presence. If the Kage had known that Sasuke had killed those two at the restaurant because he had an unquenchable, uncontrollable thirst for blood and _not_ because he was some random thug like the guard at the front entrance, I was sure that he would not be speaking to him in such ways.

"So, how about it?" the Kage broke off into English, talking colloquially now, and I was glad that I could understand them. I would rather have listened to their conversation than my own thoughts at the moment. "It's a perfect opportunity to show you off to my colleagues and gain a little more trust for each other if we are going to be working together…..and Sakura can come, too, of course," he seemed to be hesitant saying the last. "Will you come to my celebration party? It's tradition to celebrate new merges in power between states," the Kage indulged.

"Perhaps," Sasuke looked the other way out the window, shifting his weight, and uttered in a rather unconvincing manner, "If I'm not too busy dusting china cabinets or shaving cats."

"Splendid!" the robed man exercised a loud, pleased laugh and Sasuke seemed to be becoming irked that he didn't take any of his witty remarks seriously. Maybe that's why he liked my reactions to his teasing instead; because I always _reacted_, unlike this man.

After that, all that occurred was the Kage's ranting about the perks of being his new dispatch (he seemed to be very in love with talking about himself and his power as president) and handed Sasuke a crisp parchment, ignoring me completely again as if I was an insignificant woman that did not belong. Maybe I _was_ at that moment, because it seemed that Sasuke could have done all of this on his own. He had told me that he needed me to do the "boring, responsible work" that he didn't want to do himself. But, I still wondered what the real reason was.

I didn't know him well at all- not as well as we should have known each other after what we had been through together (and it scared me a little that he knew so much more about me than I had about him)- but I did know him well enough to know that it was not the _only_ reason he wanted me to work with him (especially on something that I wasn't even really needed for). I decided that asking him to tell me the truth was out of the question. Sasuke could never be made to answer questions that he did not want to. So, I would have to wait and find out.

We left the office in silence, me following after the Uchiha like a lost puppy. Sasuke threw the door-man, Gondo, another threatening glare and the man held up his hands in mock surrender as we passed in a hurried pace. I could feel the Kage's eyes on my back as I left and I got the sensation that he knew something was amiss as well. He would not be Kage if he was not intelligent (even though he sounded like a misogynistic _toad_!) and it would not take all that much intelligence in the first place to notice what I had realized: Sasuke didn't need any help and I was strung along silently in a secret position- that not even I was aware of.

Sasuke was up to something. Something big; and whatever plan he was brewing was dangerous enough that he did not trust the Kage's men to work as his _assistance_, so I was there instead. And something more, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"I'm going to kill Gondo," he muttered to himself and I had no doubt it would happen. I knew from the moment the man put the gun to us that Sasuke would think somewhere along those lines of retaliation.

I almost felt bad for Gondo and the Kage- for only a moment at least- because they didn't know what they were getting themselves into by surrounding themselves with Sasuke. I was at least aware of the danger I was putting myself in, but I accepted that danger because the only way I could help Sasuke was to stay by his side and gain his trust; and also to find out what his motives were in keeping me here. But, the Kage did not know of Sasuke's mental state, to put it lightly. If the Kage _had_ known, he would not have Sasuke working in a position so close to himself. The Kage did not know that having Sasuke so close to himself was to ask for death after the Uchiha got what he wanted out of him.

But, I also had to ask myself- what was the Kage's motives? Why was he hiring someone like Sasuke to work for him on such a precarious and dangerous thing? Even if the Kage didn't know Sasuke's medical background- or background in general (I didn't even know his past. It was something only the Uchiha was privy to)- he _had_ to realize that there was something in Sasuke, something deep down and unspoken, that begged to not be trusted.

"Are you really sure you can trust that Kage guy?" I asked the Uchiha when we were back out in the street and out of ear-shot from the building. I couldn't get the creepy gaze of the president out of my head and clutched my fist to my shirt for support. "Maybe you were wrong to decide to work for him…" I shut up when he held up a hand to silence me.

"I am never wrong, Sakura," he explained in a somewhat ephemeral voice and silent air about him. He seemed calm enough compared to how he had been in the small office space. "One time I _thought_ I was wrong, but I was mistaken," He trailed off and kicked the dirt underneath his feet lazily with his hands in his pockets. He seemed to ponder something silently as he walked with a forgotten smile, then scoffed at whatever it was he was thinking bout, shaking his head.

"Where are we going now?" I interrogated, retracting my nervous hand from my blouse.

"To our new home," he explained shortly, caustically. He handed me a piece of paper from the parchment that had an address written on it in elegant script. But, when I held out my hand for the rest of the parchment he still held, he would not give it to me. He pushed my hand away.

I sighed at the idea of his words. A home was the people who lived there, the sounds they made; the life they brought to the otherwise lifeless building. The place we were going was not a "home" because we were not a family. We would not make familial sounds in that place and we surely would bring no life to the building. The idea of the house would not change a thing. Everything would remain the same, and I was sure that Sasuke would certainly not change for the better. So, instead of a home, it was just a space to exist in- for the time being. Because, no matter how you thought about it or what you called it, it would never resemble a home. And home was too pretty of a word to be used in the same sentence when talking about the place we were going to.

I shook my head and tried to pay attention to the ground under my feet instead of the elusive man next to me, watching me from the corner of his eye.

"What's with the downtrodden face?" he asked, sounding truly interested- but I knew it must have only been a ruse.

"Nothing," I tried to sound more cheerful. I needed to stop depressing myself and focus on more important issues. I was more stressed than I had ever been just in the sixty-minute span that we had been in that office for, and the tension never left my body like it had Sasuke's. I could still feel the Kage's steely gaze.

Sasuke seemed to catch on to my thoughts the way that only he could. "I'm very intuitive, ya' know?" he held up a lecturing finger but left it at that. He wasn't one to continue pressing a subject that did not need to be talked about. If he did, it would only give other's permission to do the same to him. And, as a man of few- if not any- words, he was not going to unconsciously give me permission to use the same tactic on him when I wanted to know something in the future.

"It's nothing," I reiterated again, but he still didn't seem to believe me. I re-read the parchment and tried to memorize the address for future reference, but the words were only a sea of letters on a white background and my brain could not understand them.

"Where is this house?" I asked. "I mean- where's the road?" I looked around, but it didn't seem that we were anywhere close to our destination.

"Road?" He looked sideways at me, ephemeral in the mid-sky sunlight. His hair held small, almost unnoticeable tints of color that I couldn't name. "Where we're going, we don't need roads," he quoted in a wonton impersonation of '_Back to the Future_' and I sight in lack of anything interesting to say in return. He was at it again…

* * *

When we had arrived to the house, my first impression was that I hoped I would not be the one playing housekeeper.

"We're living _here_?" I asked, out of breath. Sasuke's walking was the equivalent to my jogging. He gave me a look like I was partially stupid and walked through the front door and into the structure. The building seemed to loom over the front yard and the shadow of the tall house converged over me and the sidewalk until it reached the street. There was a black car parked in the front of the house with two men in it and I noticed Brahm from the bus station the night before sitting in the passenger's seat, watching me closely. I didn't recognize the man in the driver's seat; the windows were too darkly tinted for such luxuries.

I leaned on the white fence, still standing defiantly on the sidewalk where it opened onto the path to the front door, and removed my shoes from my aching feet. We had been walking for God only knew how long after leaving the office and I was a little peeved that the car that could have taken us home was waiting for us here. Sasuke seemed to like walking if he chose to do that instead of calling Brahm to pick us up. I logged that into my memory-warehouse in a file labeled 'the psychopathic influence of Uchiha Bastards' to remember it later. If we were going to live together, we needed to know things about each other; otherwise we would risk Sasuke turning me into a human shish-kabob on the picket fence or me inflicting him with multiple stab wounds to the chest while he slept.…

Brahm rolled down the window of the dark car and it took me a second to realize that it wasn't for a breath of fresh air. I turned from the insultingly tall house and gave him a sparing of acknowledgement over my shoulder.

Brahm did nothing but point at me then point at the house, silently telling me to get inside, and rolled up the window- returning to his newspaper.

I stuck my tongue out at him and grabbed my shoes into my arms, entering the house with a dirty scowl.

It wasn't much different from the hotel we had stayed at in Suna before the soiree to find the Minister. It was larger, though, and quieter. I didn't even hear the ghosts of Sasuke's footsteps as he walked up behind me and whispered in my ear to shut the door. He abruptly turned down the hall into the kitchen and I heard the light ticking of a stove burner coming to life. I gave one last stare at the car before shutting the door and could have sworn I saw Brahm sticking his tongue out at me from behind the darkly-tinted glass.

I felt out of my own body again. Like I did the first time I joined him in that car in the desert. Like the first time I saw him kill someone; or helped him kill someone. I didn't know what to do in the walls that surrounded me. The television was on a song that I did not know and the walls were bright. The furniture was expensive- so different from my cheap furnishing in Konoha which seemed a million worlds away now. The hallway was long and wide with portraits and paintings in thick wooded frames and I didn't want to count how many doors were down that hallway; I couldn't see all the way down it because the lights were off so it seemed to lead to nothing but utter darkness. So I just stood in the entrance with my back pressed against the heavy door and my familiar shoes clutched to my chest. There was a large opening a few feet in front of me to my right and I guessed it was a dining room that connected to the kitchen in a round-about fashion. I could hear Sasuke rummaging through silverware somewhere in the maze.

I tried to readjust and searched the living room next to me. The T.V. was attached to the wall on the far side of the room and there were three sofas surrounding it with long tables covered in candles, decorative bowls, or magazines behind each. There was one elongated table in the center of the square that the sofas and television wall created. It held a few bags that looked like they were mine from the place we had stayed at last night.

I didn't pay attention to anything else in the large room and headed quickly to my bag, throwing it open and letting a relieved breath escape when it turned out that it indeed was mine after all. I was glad that at least one thing from my former life was still intact to the situation I had somehow put myself in again.

"Are you hungry?" Sasuke leaned against the wall in the opening of the dining room that connected to the kitchen with an amusedly saccharine look on his face. He removed a cigarette from behind his ear and placed it between his lips, testing the taste.

"A little," my voice was small and I cleared my throat to strengthen it again. "I think."

"You think?" he asked, and walked back through the dining room to the kitchen where I could hear pans moving. I didn't know he could cook and I logged that away in my memory-warehouse as well.

I followed him slowly and sat at one of the barstools at the stone island in the middle of the room. Pans hung on hooks above my head and made soft _tink_-ing noises as they connected lightly with each other every few seconds like a heavy wind-chime. I sat in the stool facing Sasuke's back as he was turned towards the stove in front of him. He bowed forward with the cigarette still in his mouth and moved the pan to light the cigarette on the burner. The smoke from the cigarette mixed in the air with the steam from whatever was cooking in the pan. The stove was in the center of the opposite wall I was facing at my seat and on both sides of it were slate stone counters that wrapped around the entire kitchen. The refrigerator hummed somewhere behind me and Sasuke walked to it. I watched him closely as he moved fluidly, knowing exactly what to do like I never did.

He pulled the door to the freezer open and brought out frosted wine glasses, grabbing a large bottle of wine from off of a rack on the counter behind me with his free hand. He glanced to me over his shoulder. "What?" he asked and I turned back towards the stove.

"It's nothing."

"You say that a lot," his voice was next to my ear again as he reached around my body and placed the frosted glass on the stone counter-top in front of me. I refused to look at him and kept staring at the stove. He let out a satisfied grunt and I heard a loud pop that startled me a little as he opened the wine bottle. He walked back around the counter to the stove, leaning over the stone top to pour it in my glass. I guessed he realized how tense my shoulders were when he was behind me. "You don't trust me, do you?" he asked with a strange frown that I couldn't put my finger on.

"Have you given me any reason to?" My throat was dry and I took a few sips of the dark liquid from the glass. It tasted like cranberry juice, but harsher.

"Plenty," he turned away with his own glass and leaned against the counter, staring at the stove I had been previously staring at. All I could see was the back of his dark shirt and his pale neck. The smoke from his cigarette swam through the air in a celestial dance towards the tall, vault-shaped ceiling.

I didn't believe him. He had never once done anything that made me think, _"Hey, maybe I can trust this guy."_ Most of his actions clearly had the opposite effect of inducing thoughts such as, _"Can you please give your story to the jury about this fucked-up incident?"_ though.

But he dropped the subject again and returned to sturring whatever was in the pan. I could hear the flames of the gas burner licking the bottom of the pan and sizzling its contents. The smell of peppers and meat filled the air and I guessed it was some kind of spicy dish. He liked spicy food. I logged that away, too.

"You're trying to figure me out," he stated, and it wasn't a question. "I know that look. The doctors at the asylum always looked at me that way..."

I didn't answer because, no matter how much I tried to deny it, he would know I was lying. I submitted and he was silent as he flitted the food onto a small plate and slid it across the counter top of the island towards me. I had to move my glass out of the way to keep it from being hit and gave him an exasperated look. He ignored it, or course.

"You can chose whatever room you want," he offered and that was the end of the conversation.

I wasn't really all that hungry but I mindlessly ate anyway, not really paying attention to my actions and running through the conversation from the Kage's office over and over again in my mind. Sasuke seemed to realize my in-deep-thought behavior because he didn't interrupt me. He waited patiently until I was finished eating, in the bar-stool across from me still, and watching me as closely as I had been watching him earlier. I didn't meet his eyes; I didn't have the strength to like he would have.

When I was finished he took my plate and placed it in the sink with his own. I was about to drink the rest of my half-empty glass but he reached over and disposed of his cigarette in the dark wine. "What the _fuck_, Sasuke!" he smirked at my lively outburst, so different from my previous thoughtful mood.

"I think we need something a little stronger, don't you?" he asked and I didn't know what he was talking about.

"What are you implying?" I asked, quirking my head confusedly. The man was a walking paradox.

"We could run amuck in the streets until we are tempest-tossed," he suggested evasively, speaking old-fashionably, and I gave him a look that I was nowhere closer to understanding what the fuck he was talking about. But he continued to not make any sense anyway. "In with the hellions and whatnot?"

"Huh?"

"Do you want to go somewhere and do something spontaneous?" he asked, as exasperated as I usually was, and ran a hand through his hair from his hairline to the base of his neck where he tugged on it slightly, waiting for my answer.

"I've never been spontaneous before and I never plan to…especially not around someone like you. Who knows what might pop into your head and I don't want you influencing me to do anything immoral," I shook my head, trying not to let myself imagine letting loose with the man- he was such a faucet, but I failed utterly and entertained a few scenarios in my mind. He seemed to know this and smirked, already knowing he had won.

"Never say never," he shook a finger at me in shame, ordering in nothing less than a sing-song notion of the lips. "Besides, I'm guessing you're tired of walking so…yeah. Don't worry; Brahm will drive us and the whole reason he's here is to watch out for you."

"Why?" I sounded disgusted, but my stomach did a tiny, strange and unfamiliar little jump at his words.

"The only one of us who will ever be safe in Sound is me; and I can't spend all of my time watching out for you. And after what Brahm told me almost happened at the bus station yesterday with that _boy_…"

"What almost happened at the bus station?" I asked, but he changed the subject immediately and dug around in his pocket for something.

"Here," he placed a small, oval-ish green object into my palm.

"What is it?" I held it in-between my pointer finger and thumb in the light to study it more thoroughly. "It looks illegal."

"This pill should make you feel like a hedgehog stuffed in a duffel-bag," he smiled and threw a little white one into his mouth that was different from my own. I knew what it was that he had taken because I had given it to patients before to control hormone imbalances in the brain (the kind that caused people to go on murderous rampages *cough cough*). I guessed he was only doing it because I had said I didn't want to do something spontaneous around 'someone like him', so he was doing me the favor of controlling himself with meds. I laughed at his grossed-out, faltery expression.

"That doesn't sound fun," I winced. I pictured myself locked in a duffe-bag and didn't find it looked very enjoyable at all.

"Oh, it is," he nodded, eyes closed. "Trust me." He ordered and handed me a glass of water.

I gave the pill one more look before closing my eyes and sighing. My heart was pounding and I was nervous. I knew I shouldn't have but, before I could stop my decision, I threw my head back, placed the little green pill on my tongue, and downed a large gulp of the clear liquid in the glass. I almost coughed up a lung at the taste and Sasuke laughed like a hyena. "It's vodka!" I exclaimed accusingly, pointing at the glass that I had thought was innocent water and pushed the offending aromatic mixture from my presence.

"Let's go," was all of the explanation he gave, which wasn't an explanation at all, and walked to the door, dragging me along by my upper arm. His fingers overlapped each other as they wrapped around my small appendage. "Wait," he stopped abruptly and I collided with his back after his hasty pause. He turned around and looked me up and down. I had the urge to cross my arms over myself. "Let's change first."

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I challenged in a tone to imply that he had better not answer, but, of course, he did- overstepping boundaries of platonic by a far estimate.

"I don't like it," he answered and dragged me down the hallway into the darkness until I heard a light-switch click and light took over the end of the hallway, letting me see what I had not been able to earlier. There was nothing but a black spiral staircase with metal vines decorating the hand-railing. "Ah," he nodded and walked up the stairs to a square opening in the ceiling where he disappeared from my sight. "Are you coming?" he called, his voice was muffled by distance.

I walked up the cold, steel steps with my bare feet and headed into the un-adventured room.

* * *

"Yes," Sasuke screamed like a woman faking an orgasm, holding up his hands in a square shape and looking at me with one eye closed through the hole of his hands. He made "Chk" noises like he was taking photographs with his makeshift camera and I turned to look out the window to hide my reddening cheeks. "I'm glad I thought of it," he sighed, still staring, and I tried in vain to pull the dress down to modest standards. Out of anything in that room, he chose _that_ outfit. I growled under my breath. The t-strap heels on my feet were not doing anything to help their soreness and the dress was in danger of showing too much if I crossed my legs a certain way. But, I had to admit that he knew what a dress should look like on a woman. The black material was smooth and fitted at the waist, coming out to mid-thigh. It was not as nice as the black one he had bought me before, but that was because it was obviously a dress for a completely different kind of partying.

"Where are we going?" I asked and played with the button that rolled down the windows. I was sitting in the back seat of the dark car and Sasuke was next to me, fiddling with the strap of the shoe on my foot crossed towards him. He twisted it in his fingers, admiring the dark plum coloring that matched the waist belt on the dress. Brahm was still in the passenger's seat with the unknown guy sitting next to him driving. I threw my tongue out at Brahm again behind his back so he could not see me, secretly settling the score.

"To get some drinks and settle in. The night after tomorrow is when our first job is and we need to be loosening up before we do it. I don't want you as stressed tomorrow night as you are now and ruining all of my hard work and planning," he explained. He always did that. Whenever he started out something that sounded like it could possibly turn into a compliment or pleasant conversation, he would finish with a pseudo-insult and ruin the moment. It also seemed like all he did was make elaborate plans that worked to only serve one distant goal that only he knew of.

"What exactly does this 'job' entail, anyway?" I asked, trying to wipe the irritated look off of my face. I was annoyed also that he had not let me see the parchment the Kage had given him with the information about the job on it. He had burned it after reading it right in front of me for the fun of watching my face twist in anger. Sasuke stopped playing with my heel strop and took a drag of a cigarette I hadn't noticed him lighting. He exhaled, as if trying to figure out what to say.

"Top secret," he sighed knowingly. "It's hush hush; can't tell."

"How can it be a secret from me if I'm going to be doing it too?" I asked in an impossibly incredulous look like he was the one stupid this time. Brahm in the front seat quirked his head as if he were listening just as intently as I.

He hiked an eyebrow in surprise, but changed the subject and I gave up- too exhausted to continue. My head was feeling strange, like it was going sour. "That drug takes about thirty minutes to start working, so you should be feeling the starting affects now." I was about to ask him what the affects were, scared that he might have given me a hallucinogen and needing to be prepared in case I started seeing things. "We're here," he said plainly and lifted himself out of the car, but paused to tell Brahm to get out too before extricating himself completely from the automobile.

I followed him, trying to open the door myself but the handle wasn't working. My fingers were tingling like they were asleep. Brahm stepped out as ordered and opened my door for me, offering me his hand and helping me out. Sasuke stood on the curb of the sidewalk under the glow of the lights from the buildings in the distance, wearing an all-black ensemble. I swore he probably never wore anything but monochromes; having a penchant for hair gel and a closet full of black. He stared up to the sky as Brahm shut the door snugly and walked me to reach him.

Sasuke turned to Brahm with wide, dizzying eyes and made a strange hand-gesture that I couldn't put under my thumb. "Can you shadow her for the night?" he asked and Brahm nodded his answer. "She tends to get herself into sticky situations," the Uchiha finished and Brahm gave him a questionably raised brow to specify that what the Uchiha was saying was laughable. I _did_ tend to get myself into sticky situations- but one of those situations was specifically Sasuke, so it was funny to hear him refer to my tendencies of mistakes as if he were not one of them.

Sasuke led me gently through an alleyway toward the distant lights and the car stayed where we had left it. Brahm waited until he was fifteen or so steps behind us to begin walking, keeping that distance for what I guessed would be the whole night. "Where are we going?" I asked again and this time actually got a proper answer. My voice sounded feathery and whimsical like it wasn't me talking after all. He smiled down at me like he noticed too.

"To a club I think you'll like. It's right at the end of this alley." And it was. As soon as we stepped out of the darkness and onto the bustling street, almost bumping into a drunken couple and having to falter our steps, I had to let my eyes adjust to the lights. They were dim but so much different than the darkness of the cobblestone alleyway. We seemed to end up in alleyways and side-roads together a lot, I mused. Sasuke took me in a sharp turn on the sidewalk to the right and confronted a man at a large, bright red door. They didn't exchange any words and the man nodded, removing himself from in front of the entrance and allowing us entry into the building. It was made of bricks and I reached out my hand, feeling the rough texture. Sasuke waited patiently in the doorway, not going in until I realized I had been acting probably very strangely. He gave me a soft look that I didn't quite understand and grabbed my hand before the doorman could ask why I was being a freak.

I could feel my eyes- which sounded strange, even when I thought it. They were clouded and lazy-lidded but still bright and taking in the lights from the ceiling that were moving around the dance floor as the music and bass boomed, vibrating the floor and tickling the skin on the bottom of my feet. I made a strange, approving noise at the sensation that I knew Sasuke could hear but he ignored it, instead choosing to look for an open booth.

He tried to help me into the booth's seat but I refused, swatting his hand away and earning a chuckle from him. He sat across from me at the small table. The table was only about as big as two magazines sitting next to each other; just big enough for an ashtray and drinks to set on it.

"Are you alright?" Sasuke asked above the music and leaned forward, looking into my eyes. I didn't know if he was doing it like he usually did or if he was checking the size of my pupils, which I guessed were larger than normal. But he seemed to find nothing wrong with me even though I didn't answer his question. I had heard the words but didn't seem to be able to make my mouth move. "Don't drink too much or the affects will intensify," his voice seemed to vibrate and break apart until it sounded like three of him were saying the same thing at once, overlapping each other. Everything seemed to pitch to the left and I wondered if it was the drug or something else until I realized that it was because my head was tilted to the right. Sasuke laughed at my confused expression and whistled loudly with his fingers in his mouth. The lights were glowing off his skin; greens, blues, yellows, and reds. The red was my favorite and I kept staring and waiting for the other colors to pass before I could glimpse that red light illuminating his skin for a millisecond once more. He stared back unabashedly and untroubled.

I had never felt like this before and my heart was pounding. "W-" I tried to voice out but had to gulp down the lump in my throat to get what I was saying to work correctly. "What did you give me?"

"I forget what it's called-" he said and my heart sunk to the pit of my stomach at his words. "Yeah, can you bring us a bottle of Jack?" he asked a waitress that had answered to his whistling and she walked away. "Calm down," he told me, noticing my distressed face. "You're just Rolling," he explained. "It's like speeding but a little different." He looked around where we sat, trying to find something. "Ah," he said and grabbed a nearby ashtray, placing it perfectly in the center of the table until it was to his liking. "Your heart will go a little faster, but it's nothing to worry about. The only reason you notice it is because every sensation is intensified," he went on, lighting another cigarette. I had never knew he smoked that much, but I guessed it was only because of the atmosphere of the club. Everyone was smoking.

I leaned forward, staring at the cigarette, curious, and he offered it to me- understanding what I wanted without me needing to say anything. He held it out across the table with the filter facing me and I put my lips to it as he held it out, taking a small hit. I coughed and made a small "Eugh" noise at the taste. No wonder it had such a gross smell, it didn't taste any better. He shrugged and placed it back between his slightly parted lips. "You also should stay by me for the rest of the night 'cause it can get pretty intense after drinking. Rolling is a lot different than any other drug. It's like Adderall and Ecstasy put together, but not harmful or deadly. It's an anomaly…" he trailed off, studying how I reacted to the words. All I did was nod my head dizzily in understanding and prepared myself before taking a large shot he poured for me that the waitress had brought while he was talking.

The next few minutes were nothing more than a few more shots between us. I had never been a drinker but I guessed it was the feeling-a-little-more-well-dressed-than-normal, get-ready-for-a-night-of-craziness compendium of abnormal behavior that inspired me to actually let loose and "do something spontaneous", as Sasuke had put it.

But, I became to get a little befuddled as the drug really began to kick in and the alcohol's effect intensified it. My fingers were live-wires and felt like currents of electricity were buzzing through them. I held them up and examined the fingerprints on the tips of my fingers and laughed. "They're all different." I giggled in a high-pitched voice.

Sasuke laughed too, but at my words instead. I didn't care.

I touched the tips of my four fingers with my thumbs on each hand and rubbed them together. It felt ten times stronger than when I had done the same thing without Rolling. I looked to Sasuke at my right. I couldn't remember how I had gotten there but at some point I either moved in the booth to sit beside him or he moved to sit beside me. I ran my hand through his hair and he looked at me with a halfway startled expression. It was softer than my fingers had felt, and that was saying something. He coughed awkwardly when I kept doing it and shifted in his seat a little. He removed my hand and placed another shot in it. I guessed it was because touching was something that we did not do. The only other times we had _ever_ touched each other was when we danced in the hotel room and when Sasuke tied me up at a motel, leaving me for ransom.

I put the shot down on the table instead of drinking it- I didn't want to intensify the pill any more than it already was- and got up as fast as I could, running into the dance floor between the multi-colored lighting. Sasuke ran after me with a wicked glint in his eye.

* * *

I tried to remember how I had gotten in the bathroom but all that came up was a blankness in my mind. I was standing in front of a sink with the water running and a florescent light flickering above me. Someone was behind me, but I couldn't remember who until Sasuke spoke from where I felt the presence in a soothing voice. But I didn't pay attention to the words. He grabbed my hair and pushed his cool palm on the back of my neck, guiding my mouth to the running water where I took long gulps. I didn't realize how thirsty I was until I took the first sip and couldn't stop after that. The coolness calmed my heated body. I was sweating a little and hoped he wouldn't notice.

"Sakura," his voice sounded like he was ten feet away even though he was right behind me, bending over with me to make sure I drank like I was supposed to. I made a noise in the back of my throat to let him know I was listening while taking a few more gulps and splashing the rest of the cold water on my face. My pores screamed and closed shut in alarm. "Do you want to leave?" he asked like he was worried. I didn't know why he sounded like that and I tried again to wonder what happened between being at the booth and appearing in that bathroom but nothing came to mind again. "You've been dancing for three hours. I think you need a rest." His voice was hushed and the light hummed even louder when I looked up at it.

"Let's just go outside," I sounded out of breath and soft again, like I was half-asleep, but I couldn't make my voice normal. He hurried me outside into the cool air and my head-ache cleared a little, which I was halfway thankful for, but it did nothing for the dizziness of the pill that was still coursing through my blood system- full speed. He lit another cigarette and leaned against the brick wall across from me with one leg straight and the other bent so the soul of his foot was flat against the wall.

I slid down the wall and felt the bricks scratch the back of my bare legs where the dress did not protect my skin. "You would not have incurred this problem if you would have only listened to me…" he lectured and I wondered what he was talking about. "Drinking: the well-rounded, stupidity-induced activity of socialites which requires determination, patience, and time. Lots of time."

"What?" My voice was almost not there, but he heard it anyway. I guessed the wind had brought it to him, helping me out. My head kept lolling to the side, like my neck wasn't strong enough to hold it up anymore. But when I finally got it up, it would loll again to the other side and the battle would ensue once more.

"You shouldn't have drank so much," he explained and flicked the cigarette somewhere down the alley. I couldn't see Brahm anywhere but I knew he was somewhere guarding the alley from anyone trying to walk down it. "You're probably fucked-up and I don't know how long it will take to get out of your system now…" he trailed. "The first time I took it, it only lasted about eight hours..." I knew why he had trailed off and what he didn't want to say. With someone like him, whose body was used to different drugs (a mental hospital, like the one he was in, would rather drug the patients than spend precious time to try and cure them), would be used to the effects of the pill and they would, therefore, leave his system quite quickly. But me; I had never taken a drug in my life- apart from Aspirin- so the effects would gratuitously take longer to flee my blood stream. I sighed. I would be stuck like this for who knew how long. I bet to myself that Sasuke knew this, too. He just liked to demoralize me. He was trying to turn me more like him by pushing me further and further toward the line from normal to Sasuke-like. And I was arriving there fast.

I looked up at him from my seat on the cobblestone ground and made a sound of agreement that he seemed to like better than my usual sassy remarks. I leaned forward, ignoring the short length of the dress this time, and removing the shoes that Sasuke had seemed to like so much. He sighed disappointedly but then averted his gaze to my face instead when I guessed he noticed that he could see up my dress. He might have been heartless, but he was also a gentleman.

I liked the feel of the wind on my legs and sighed, leaning my head back on the hard wall. We stared at each other disjointedly, both pink cheeked from the alcohol and enjoying the night air. "Hey, Sasuke," I called but he was already looking. But it seemed that the longer I gawked at him, the longer he just wasn't going to know what I wanted until I said it. "Is there anyone that you've ever cared about before?" I asked and I didn't know why the though had popped into my head, but wanted to know the answer anyway.

His eyes softened and seemed to darken in sadness. "Ah," he focused his eyes faraway down the alley, averting from looking at my face. "I was precious once. I belonged to my mother."

Water droplets fell from the roof's gutters into puddles somewhere surrounding us. My lead lolled again, uncontrollable; just like him.

"What was she like?" I asked. My eyes began to droop but I didn't know how to open them again, so I settled for letting them close to rest themselves. They deserved a break.

There was such a long silence that I didn't think he was going to answer me and I waned in and out of light sleep until his voice cut through the shadows of the setting sun on the horizon. I felt like I was hovering above the ground and floating towards the wind when his voice startled me enough to wake me up, but I still couldn't open my eyes. "She had brown eyes and small hands…..with a rusty little attitude like yours." I raised my eyebrows and made a weak "Oh?" to let him know I was still listening. I didn't know if I was dreaming or not because Sasuke's voice sounded fuzzy and faraway again, but I could still just make out his deep tenor and meaning of his words before there was utter silence. "My mother had a way of seeing the world that she was in….it was very dangerous for others around her. She had a way of making you believe in impossible things. But my father fell in love with his liquor- he fell in love with it the way my Mother and I fell into creating a world together that did not exist. Then one night he came home, accused her of cheating on him, and broke her neck. I killed him for that. I could smell his blood in the air. And I swear, in that moment, I felt immortal." There was nothing but the sound of wind bustling in to fill the silence after that. He was talking to himself this time.

I could feel Sasuke's warm hand make its way around my back and under my knees, hoisting me off of the ground. "Sir?" Brahm's deep voice was coming from somewhere close and my head was resting on Sasuke's shoulder. I snuggled my face more firmly into the crook of his neck where I could feel his strong pulse on the ridge of my nose and sighed. He made a disapproving noise at my cold nose touching his skin. I knew I was still awake, though I was so worn out, but I couldn't move my heavy body or succumb to sleep. I was in limbo between the two.

"Hm?" Sasuke murmured quietly, trying not to wake me. I didn't know how he was carrying me so far without any difficulty at all. I could feel my shoes dangling off of my feet and swaying with each step he took, but they never fell off.

"Whatever it is you're planning, I don't want her to be one of the unlucky people around you who tend to die," and I was surprised with how forceful Brahm's voice sounded.

There was a pregnant silence and Sasuke's arms stiffened momentarily under me. "Ah."

And the next thing I knew, I was alone in a warm bed at the house. Too warm, I thought, and unbuckled the belt around my waist lazily before tossing it to the ground, but it didn't help ease the heat as much as I wanted it to. The only thing it accomplished was stopping it from prodding me in the back. I rolled onto my stomach with a groan and looked to the clock on the nightstand. I couldn't read the green flashing numbers; my vision was still cloudy and my senses were still on high. The hotness of the room was stifling and it felt like the dress was trying to fuse itself to my skin. I got up with a huff and stalked out of the room, almost falling into the dresser on the way- my knees were asleep and ankles weak. The lights down the hall were on and I could hear the television humming low in the background, not high enough to understand what was being said until laughter struck through the silence from the audience. I walked to the living room to find Sasuke sitting in a chair against a wall, holding a glass filled with what I guessed was scotch and staring into nothing. The ice clinked around in the glass whenever his fingers moved once he noticed my presence approaching.

"You look like hell," he said it like it was a statement but put the upper inflection in a strange place, making it sound like half of a question.

"I _feel_ like hell," I sighed and walked past him. My voice was a little stronger but my tongue was still swollen feeling and my head was hard to understand. The electricity in my fingers was now through my whole body, keeping me awake. I wanted to ask what was wrong, but I didn't know how to word it. My thoughts were too fast to put together a sentence before a new thought would pop up and take its place. I didn't even understand the expression on his face to be able to know if I should ask or not. I didn't know if it would be appropriate. He didn't say anything back. No witty remark or jab at my self-esteem. So I leaned back on the table at the back of one of the couches, a few feet across form him. I seemed to get in the way of wherever he was staring at and he ebbed out of his thoughts, looking up to me from his seat.

"Are you okay?" I asked lamely and he sneered, annoyed with my compassion. The distance between us was suffocating but seemed to stretch to infinity, like a road to absolutely nothing between us. He didn't answer.

At times, Sasuke had the nasty habit of withdrawing from reality and retreating to his own anamnesis, forcing the people around him into nothing but trite and useless trinkets that only served to abate him. He was both an introverted and extroverted person by nature, by condition.

I was used to this behavior. I had expected Sasuke to act this way at some point. A person who is only capable of false emotions- never any true, tangible connections with the people around him; always having to create those emotions out of thin air and make it seem real to others to fit in- was sure to be exhausted by all of the effort at some point and need recuperation time. I pictured this as Sasuke's convalescence of the exhaustion he inflicted upon himself and others around him.

"No. No, that wouldn't work…." he whispered to a silent thought in his own mind. "I can't seem to plan anything correctly right now…I shouldn't have taken that medication. It screws with my brain." He rubbed his temples. "I can't act like I normally do. I act more like _you_," He said like it was depressing and looked back up to me with the same faraway expression he had worn the night before leaving me tied up in the motel. His brows furrowed, setting his drink on the table next to him that he had obviously moved from somewhere else in the house. The condensation from the outer rim collected around the table where it sat on the polished wood. He gestured for me to come closer. I pushed off of the table my lower back was leaning against, taking light steps on the cold floor until I was a few feet in front of him. But when I stopped he made an annoyed grunt again and reached his hand out fast, startling me. I flinched and felt him grab the bottom of the dress, pulling me forward until my knees hit the seat of the wooden chair between his own legs. The fabric rustled in his hands, making light noises of protest. I could feel my heart racing in frightened uncertainty until he did nothing but release the hem of my dress, place his forehead on my stomach, and let out a comfortable breath from his lungs. His hands were warm as they snaked around my legs, after a tense moment, to grasp firmly onto the back of my thighs, bringing me closer to the chair and holding me there like he was afraid I would try and move away.

I waited what seemed an eternity. "What's wrong, Sasuke?" I placed my hands in his hair, running them on his scalp again and he hummed in approval. "You can tell me." I couldn't bring my voice higher than a whisper. I was afraid something would break if I spoke in any other fashion.

"Don't treat me like one of your patients, Doc," his voice was menacing and his hands clasped tighter onto my skin. My knees were tensed. I couldn't loosen them no matter how hard I tried until I realized that I was recoiling because I was preparing to run if I had to. Sasuke was frightening me in his unusually languid behavior and I didn't know what he was going to do next.

He had been different in the alley when I had asked him about his mother. He had answered me kindly, without his usual double entendre or opulent attitude towards me. I knew I shouldn't have asked, because I remembered what he had told me he had done to his family, but I hadn't been thinking.

_"I killed my family when I was younger. I can't remember why, but the idea just _popped_ into my head and I slaughtered them in their sleep!"_ His voice rang in my head. He had said that on our first day together in the Suna desert after he had stolen a car- without conviction- as if he didn't care that they were gone, never to be seen again, because of him. He had wiped them off the face of the earth. I felt a chill through my body.

It's strange, isn't it? One day a person is walking around, going to work and returning to their family in the evening. Then one day they just disappear…

"I wasn't trying to. I-" I tried to figure out how to finish that sentence, but gave up after a moment of uncomfortable silence. "Can I ask you something?"

"You're too nosy," he said, but it wasn't a 'no' so I continued. I could tell that the pill he had taken had suppressed, maybe even surprised, his mind- because he usually would have said something along the lines of, "Only if you want to die."

"Why did you kill your father?" There was a silence that was even colder than his hard grip on my thighs. "Sasuke?"

"Get." He ordered and extracted himself from my body. The cool air hit the place on my stomach where his warm forehead had been and I noticed how empty it felt now. And the way he ordered me was even more frightening than his blank, dead expression. "Get out." His words were nothing less than a snarl and I retreated back to the unfamiliar room I had come from. He had banished me from his sight, retracting the closeness he had so unnaturally bestowed upon me. I locked the door behind myself and slid down the door until I sat, alone and cold, on the carpeted floor- wondering how much longer I would live.

* * *

"_Do you not like my cooking anymore, Sasuke-kun?" Mother's melodic voice questioned with her back towards me, facing the cutting board across the kitchen and slicing apart an onion with perfect grace. I continued to scramble my food across my plate, never taking a bite, and working on some math problems._

"_I'm not hungry, Mother," I replied sulkily. She must have known by my tone- she always knew, but she kept her eyes on the cutting board to save my pride- that something was bothering me._

"_No, of course not," she answered and, if I had been older, I would have known she was humoring me to speak whenever I was ready to. "Did you know that a bat can detect food up to 18 feet away and can also tell what kind of insects might live in the food by using echolocation?" she asked in her perfect way of changing the subject but also staying on topic at the same time. Her speaking was always indecisive like that: like she never knew which way to go- either that or she did it with a secret purpose in mind. She saw the world in a way so different from Father- and I knew that, if it weren't for their arranged marriage, they would never have been together. They would never have started their small family- never would have created me, if it weren't for that. It was a small thing that changed everything. Mother saw the world like a writer saw a blank piece of paper, waiting to be written on. My father pictured a blank paper as nothing other than what it was- a white sheet._

"_No, I didn't know that," I answered._

"_You don't usually act like this with me, Sasuke," her cutting faltered a little and slid onto the cutting board loudly, then continued as if nothing happened. "I know your and your father's relationship isn't ideal, but you and I are different, right?" she tried to make her voice sound forlorn in a slightly joking manner, but I knew it was half-contrived and half-sincere. "Why do you think that is?" she questioned, trying to get me to finally succumb to her prodding. She knew I would eventually tell her. We hid nothing._

"_When I scour your existence for hidden purposes, I find none. Father is full of them, though," I remarked, answering her question quietly._

_She sighed at my longevity. "You may be only ten, darling, but you speak as if you have lived many lives," she walked over to the table beside me and patted my head, ruining my hair. I gave her a false scowl, pretending I didn't like the familiar gesture. "My smart boy," she smiled a smile similar to mine and sat in the seat of the table next to me, playing with her long black hair and watching the sunset out of the small window over the kitchen sink. I shifted my weight awkwardly and the chair creaked loudly._

"_Do you love him?" I asked her and she gave me a look she usually gave me when I asked her questions she didn't want to answer. But she knew she wouldn't lie to me or treat me as if I were too young to know the truth._

"_Your father and I…our relationship is complicated, Sasuke," was all she said for a moment, formulating what to say next that wouldn't sound harsh. I could tell she wanted to say something more abrasive about Fugaku, but she did not want to put me in a position to choose to believe her opinion of him or my own. Then she continued, "I love him, but not the same way I love you," she smiled gently and retracted her hands from her hair, straightening them before herself over the table and stretching. "But, what is important is that he loves us in his own little way that might not be easy to understand, but it _is_ there- deep down. He has emotions, but does not like to express them the same way you and I do. You and I are different from others, never forget that. It's what makes us so special to each other."_

_I nodded, carefully trying to make her words stick in my mind forever. Her voice, though, I would never forget. "Is it wrong to hate him?" I asked, finally looking up to her dark eyes. She smiled, which I was glad for, but I didn't know why she always looked at me like that; like she felt sorry for me- sad at my existence._

"_It's only wrong if you don't truly mean it," she explained, leaning towards me with an intense set of her mouth to show me that I needed to listen. "Sometimes I feel that same way, but then I remember that he gave me you- and I can't hate him anymore after that." We smiled daftly at each other for a moment more. The clock in the hallway ticked 93 more times in the silence._

"_I think Father's getting suspicious," I returned to my math so I didn't have to look to her face. "He knows what you've been doing and he's just waiting for you to admit it to him." I tapped my pen in an unknown rhythm against the edge of the table, trying to ignore the roughness that this topic caused for me. "He found your letters where you hid them in the attic and I think he is going to confront you about them. Knowing Father, he will be unforgiving," I tried to warn, but I didn't know if I was warning her or myself. "He will do something unthinkingly, the way he always does."_

"_Let's not talk about that, Sasuke," she abruptly got up, trying to pretend I hadn't said it. In all the memories I had of her, she had never once raised her voice, it was against her. But when her voice turned harder- not cold, but more central to her midsection- was when one knew she wished she had it in her to yell. No, she did not want to raise her voice to me, but she wished she didn't love me so much that it kept her from doing so. "We already agreed that it would be a silent thing. I would not have been so honest with you about it if I didn't think you understood the reasons why I do it and why it must never be talked about." She began chopping again- this time spices from her secret garden behind the large tree in the back of the house. We had planted it together the year before when I had turned nine._

"_I understand the reasons perfectly," I tried to explain, scowling at my homework. "I know what married people do behind closed doors," I would have said what I really meant but she would wrinkle her nose in discontent whenever I said the word 'sex', so I just trusted she knew what I was talking about. "I've watched you and father around each other enough to know that more is needed in marriage other than the ability to tolerate the presence of the other. If you love this other guy you've been seeing, and even if you don't, I will not break our secret. You know that." She giggled, finding it amusing that I was lecturing her from my small seat across the room. But her humor-filled face dropped almost immediately at her next thought._

"_Sometimes I can't help but wonder if I am raising you right?" She seemed to be interrogating herself, trying to find the answer that always eluded her question. Her shoulders were stiffening more with each word. "Sometimes I wonder if the things I tell you or let you know are the wrong things- things that no one should know, no matter what their age," her hand paused completely in thought before she noticed her foul-up and regained her cutting rate once more. "Sometimes I even feel like the words I tell you are so right, then sometimes so wrong- I confuse even myself. Father and I have talked about it a lot lately and he believes that I am corrupting you with my thoughts," I couldn't see her face from my seat, for she was facing the other direction, but I saw her hand come up quickly to swipe languidly across her pale cheek before dramatically loosening her shoulders and sighing, like the feeling of walking after sitting for days. The back of her hand held the slightest glimmer of moisture, moved and then forgotten._

"_You could never have enough power over another person to be able to do that," I tried to console her. I didn't mean for it to sound like I was calling her weak- for she could never be thought of by me in any way other than the unrelenting structure my life leaned against. But for her to think that, even for a moment, she- with all of her purity and kindness- could corrupt another person was enough to put a bitter taste on the back of my tongue. I swallowed hard, trying to dislodge the taste back down to wherever it had come from, but it stayed all the same. "After all, it's what makes us so special to each other," I used her earlier words against her gently and the bitterness in my mouth dissipated when she threw out a shaky laugh, whipping her eyes and hair from her face and setting her expression anew. "If seeing this other man will make you happier than Father can, I will never stand in your way. And I won't let father either." I added on and she gave me a red-eyed sniffle- knowing that I would not be able to defend her form Father the way I wished I could, and also letting me know she understood what I had meant in a way that only she could._

_Our language was of words, but more so of movements and of time. Father sometimes became frustrated with us because of this- he called them our "silent meetings"; something unhealthy that natural people would not do. He claimed that raising me in such strange ways would only set me that much further apart from the rest of the world. Mother had asked him what was so wrong with that, but he didn't answer- he only commented that his son should be more like _him_ than his estranged mother. I had been sent to bed with no supper that night for laughing at him- being similar to Mother was what I pictured as the closest to being accepted into heaven. That night, I heard them argue in the living room- Mother was silent, just like how she believed the world should be. I knew she was watching Father, trying to see something in front of her that was not really there unless you looked close enough to touch it with your nose and smell it. Father had repeated the same questions to her over and over until he became frustrated with her lack of response and left, slamming the screen door in a way that Mother would not do; she would have found a more poetic way to convey that she was angry. He had accused her of trying to make me see the world through her eyes, because she didn't want to be alone- because she didn't want to be the only one who was crazy._

_I didn't think he was right. Mother didn't either, but sometimes I would ask her a question that she would normally have answered in her usually colorful way. I had asked her after Father left that night why it was so important to think like each other, and she simply said it was important to think and come up with answers to one's own questions- and it was as simple as that. I never got the answer to that question, no matter how much I asked and how many times I found different ways to word it. So, just like she advised, I came up with my own reason: It was important because it was important to Mother. She was a little different after Father had accused her of manipulating me into someone like her who "should be committed to the nearest asylum", as he had put it._

_Mother said she would rather be considered insane than thought as normal. To her, being like the world outside of us was unforgiveable._

_Before father refused to keep 'putting up with our silent conversations' we used to sit across from each other at sun-rise with our legs crossed on the hardwood floor that became permanently scratched when I was five from scraping our toes._

_(Mother said it was the time of day that was best for our silent meetings and I sometimes didn't sleep at all, waiting for the sun to glimmer over the horizon. But, no matter how early I awoke on those mornings when we both knew something great would come out of our encounters, Mother was already risen and waiting for me on our spot of the floor- two cups of tea steaming before her on the abused wood. Father still slept alone in their bedroom; the sheets on Mother's side of the bed seemed to become colder each passing sunrise.) We would deem it the day's agenda to simply sit and bask in the presence of the other, speaking without speaking- many times my homework would go neglected and we even forgot our body's need to eat. The mail-man would sometimes throw strange looks from the door, but we hardly ever noticed him._

_Sometimes we would break the quiet, telling the other that we understood whatever it was that their gaze had wanted them to know. Our silences were saying things too important for mouths to utter- and this was what Mother said made us so different._

_She truly believed that we had stared enough at each other in those few years that, no matter where we were later on in life, we would always be able to know what the other was doing._

_Father may have called them the dirty name of "silent meetings", but Mother knew better. She hated Father's name for our meetings and called them the more appropriate title of "familiar anamnesis". She always did, because she could see the part of it that a normal person could not; she could see the fifth side of a square, she once told me- and I spent the next week in math class trying to figure out where that fifth side was hiding. _

_Soon after their fight when Father refused to allow our morning routine, Mother decided to never let me forget how lucky we were that our souls found one another. Since Father wouldn't allow our meetings anymore, I guessed she kept reminding me so that it would seem as if nothing had changed. We would still uncover the same things about each other and the world as we had with our silent meetings, but we were forced to do it with words after that- Mother hated it. I don't think she could even bring herself to look at our spot on the abused wooden floor after that._

"_I can remember when I was pregnant with you- I was lying in the grass one day, watching the clouds, and when I blinked I caught a glimpse of your face. I knew it was you because I felt your little body in my tummy move, and that's when your soul traveled its long and cumbersome path to me. Out of anyone else on the planet, we chose each other instead. Can you imagine how lucky that makes us; how blessed? Our souls, who thought they were individual but were really the _same_ all along… We were both lost and alone, so different from everything else and we didn't have anywhere to go." Whenever she told me the story she would sigh and I knew she was wishing she could tell me silently like we used to- because saying it out loud tainted the memory on her lips. "But we found each other. We found each other on a summer day in June."_

_I couldn't count how many nights I stayed up attempting to understand what she was trying to make me understand each time she told that story, trying to repeat it so many times that it would be impossible for me to forget that I was hers- and she mine; forever. Father was usually at work, very seldom home, so the house was never interrupted with anything but the sound of Mother in the kitchen, sitting in the window and turning dusty pages of the same old book, or in our secret garden behind the tree. At the time I understood that the reason she allowed the silence was because she believed we could still communicate our thoughts, even in different rooms, just like we had before._

_As long as it was silent, we knew. And that way Father wouldn't know what we were doing. That way, he wouldn't be able to stop us._

_Usually while lying awake on those nights, trying to understand Mothers words, I would remember things. I would remember when we were sitting in our spot once at dawn, watching each other silently with empty tea glasses at our sides. She had admitted that Father's accusations of her corrupting me were true; she didn't want to be the only one who wasn't normal and she was thankful that it didn't take much effort to make me similar to her- it helped her to pretend that she wasn't doing something that was wrong. She didn't want to admit to herself that she had to manipulate me into what she needed because admitting it to herself would make her love me less._

_She didn't have to say all of that in words because it was as if I heard her thinking it, the way that only we could do; we only needed to sit on the hard wood floor and watch each other. And I felt ashamed when I pretended to not see that confession or apology in her eyes, because I knew she saw my denial and shame in mine. I also wanted to tell her that she had underestimated me; I could not be made into anything I was not, even if she thought she had that power. She saw it in my gaze and understood. She understood finally that I was truly the same as her after all and that we could continue to see our own world together, no matter how depraved or selfish she thought she was for it._

_That was the last day we had our silent meeting; I was eight and Father would allow it no more. Mother was happy that it was our most important conversation yet. "We can end it, for now, knowing that we shared the most important thing before it was over," She had said, but I could see the sacrifice in her eyes. Fugaku taking away our time together would hurt her more than I had thought- our time was what held her. "At the end of a person's life there is a garden that looks like ours, but bigger. It's where people go when they have nothing holding them to the world anymore… And it is beyond the ideas of what 'real' or 'alive' is, where words don't even _exist_. One day, I will meet you there…" Then she sighed. She sighed and chose to look at our garden instead of me, because I would have heard what she truly wanted to say if I had seen her eyes. "Never forget what we've learned about each other. Never forget who you belong to or the world we created."_

_I snapped out of my thoughts and back to the kitchen with Mother cleaning her spices and onion chops over the sink, humming to herself. So different from the downtrodden person she was moments ago. Sometimes I wondered to myself if she could still feel my thoughts and emotions like I still could with hers, but I tried to think it quietly so she wouldn't hear me. It had been two years since our last 'familiar anamnesis' and by that time it sometimes felt as if they had never happened at all- like I made it all up in my head, just for the sake of my mind trying so desperately to understand Mother. She herself seemed like someone who could only exist in a thought, never anything tangible. The things she said and did were so unlike that of anyone or anything else that I wondered if her mind was really a mind at all. I couldn't bring myself to believe that a person was so capable of rearranging the entire universe with just one sentence._

_Mother never finished washing the spices and I never had the chance to ask her if she could still feel me from across the room._

_Because Father came home from work early, the lights of his car shining through the kitchen window where Mother was standing and she hurriedly turned to me, grabbing my still-full plate of food from the table and rushing me through the house to the back door. She told me to sit in our secret garden- not to come back until I could remember that summer day in June, just like she could._

_I didn't know how long I tried to remember. I could hear Father's raised voice from across the yard, through the house and in their room. Mother was silent, as always, as Fugaku slung his accusations at her. I could almost picture her sitting with legs crossed on the bed, looking up at him in what he would take as disrespect, but that was only because he didn't see what it truly was- how I would have seen it, how _she_ would have- in the fashion of a blank piece of paper, waiting to be written on. Mother didn't have the heart to retaliate and defend herself from his voice, just like she didn't from me. So she sat in silence, trying to understand the scene before her and never denying his accusations, knowing them already to be true. It was her silence that had always angered him, even more than her unfaithfulness in their marriage._

_And I still couldn't concentrate on remembering June when the argument cut off. It was a silence afterward that Mother did not create; it wasn't gentle enough to be her silence. But I stayed in our secret garden until I could imagine, at least, finding Mother on a grassy knoll somewhere and what the inside of her stomach must have felt like. The silence wasn't broken again as I passed Father's room some hours later on my way to bed and Mother wasn't reading in her living-room window._

_And, in the morning, Mother was not home while Father went to work. In the evening, Mother did not return to ask me if I could remember June._

_And for three weeks Mother was never mentioned. Father didn't mind my silence then as much as he had when she was around. And I didn't worry about her- believing she would return soon with a broad new scope of ideas and thoughts for me- until I could smell her body decaying under the house where Father had stored her, visiting her every night in his own secret meetings with her. And when it was six weeks, I could smell Father's atrophy as well from where I had stored him, lying by her contorted neck in the small crawl-space beneath the house._

The audience's laugh from the television buzzing in the background lulled me slowly out of my reverie. I decided I would have to find something more than scotch to entertain myself, because it obviously wasn't helping to keep the memory of that woman out of my head.

I had done so well to forget _her_ until the Haruno woman unintentionally brought it up in the alley only hours ago. The pill I took earlier did nothing, either, to help me; it controlled my mind, bringing it back to rationality and forcing me to less-than-fond memories. I did as much as possible to not recall that woman from when I was young.

I knew now that impossible things such as silent meetings did not exist, souls did not choose one another, and secret gardens died in the winter.

I tried my best not to think about the pink-headed woman as well, but it seemed everything was against my efforts. She slid into the living-room, seven feet away, staring at me the way she usually did.

"You look like hell," I observed aloud, noting her mused hair and smudged makeup. She grimaced at the words, giving me the expression I was searching for- but her nose wrinkled slightly at the base whenever she did that, which was almost a mirror to the faces Mikoto Uchiha would make at me when she didn't like something I said or knew. It was almost too similar for comfort.

"I _feel_ like hell," she gave in silently, reminding me again just how similar she was to Mother. But I could tell she was battling inside herself for the right words to say. Her foot tapped like it usually did when she beat herself up like that. I was sure even she didn't realize it tapping against the old hard-wood floors I had picked out for her.

"Are you okay?" she finally blurted and I couldn't help but sneer at myself for ever relating the Haruno woman to Mother. They were both separated from the barriers I created in my mind- past and present closed from each other forever. At least, that's what I kept trying to tell myself. A flash of rejection passed her eyes and she tried to hide it before I noticed. She didn't want me to know just how much it troubled her that I could brush her off so easily.

What she wanted was obvious. She thought she was being clever in hiding it from me but I knew that her reasoning for staying in Sound was to help me- to gain my trust and eventually find out my reasoning for calling her here. But, that would defeat the purpose. It would defeat the plan, and the plan was more important.

I tried again to formulate. I usually used the time for sleep to plan the next move, but the drug still coursing through my system made it hard to think in my natural way. "No. No, that wouldn't work…" I mumbled to myself after rejecting one method of operation. "I can't seem to plan anything correctly right now…I shouldn't have taken that medication. It screws with my brain." I rubbed my temples, noting her concerned expression. She was too soft and I needed to stop comparing her to a certain other woman- but they had the same hands. "I can't act like I normally do. I act more like _you_." I didn't care to see if she took it as an insult or not before setting my glass on the table and gesturing sternly for her to come closer.

She seemed hesitant at first, but she started forward with little steps eventually; after everything, she still trusted me. Even when I showed her with my actions that she should not- she still did. Her stubbornness was in my benefit, at least. If she knew what I was planning for her, she wouldn't have stayed in Sound so willingly. I probably would have had to force her myself. 'The best way to find out if you can trust someone is to trust them', as Hemmingway once put it, but Sakura seemed to be reasoning something in her head that I could not figure out. I couldn't understand why she must have known this would end badly for her- and it would- but she stayed all the same.

She knew I was calling her to where I was sitting but she stopped three feet away, refusing herself to go any further. I couldn't help the annoyed grunt I lashed toward her, showing her I didn't like her disobedience. So, just for the sake of making her uncomfortable, I pulled the yielding fabric of her dress, forcing her forward until her legs collided with my chair. Her hands were shaking, which I found slightly amusing and half annoying.

When I did nothing but release her dress and place my forehead on her stomach, she let out a relieved breath that was slightly more annoying than her hands.

It was quiet for a moment and her body was tense, slightly pulling away from the chair when her legs locked in defense. My hands found their own way to grasp her small legs, keeping them in the proper place, and the water on my hand from the scotch glass smeared on her weak skin- moved and then forgotten.

The silence was comfortable until she broke it, always awry without some sort of sign from me to let her know not to be afraid. "What's wrong, Sasuke?" her voice was shaky and partly lower. Her small hands wound into my hair- and, so similar again, I was almost able to pretend they were Mother's. "You can tell me," she reassured, her voice was its usual tiny whisper before it was silent. For a moment I thought I was sitting on the scratched wooden floor again with the voice I was forced to never forget.

I was about to get too lost in my head's tricks. "Don't treat me like one of your patients, Doc.," I spat to thicken the distance between myself and the mothering woman so that, hopefully, the connections between Haruno and Mikoto would be gone. I wished the medication would run its course soon, because a voice in the back of my head was starting to whisper that it wasn't the medication that made me think they were so alike. After all, the only thing different about them was Sakura's inability to keep silent and her strange hair. They both had the same strong facial features and small bodies.

"I wasn't trying to. I-" but she cut herself off, trying once more to make sure she said the right thing. I almost hated her for it. If I had not taken that pill, I _would_ have hated her- because the only thing that kept me from sometimes snapping her neck was the fact that her small smile was actually Mother's smile. And the only person I was incapable of injuring was Mother. Mother had made sure of that.

I could almost picture her making that face again, wrinkling the base of her nose so familiarly, and sometimes she made it feel like the impossible possibility of feeling one another from different places could be true once more. At times, she was so like her that I unwillingly remembered how I used to be able to measure how much Mother loved me by just thinking her name.

But the proximity to Sakura did not bring me closer to feeling Mother again and it did nothing to abate the way my mind clung to the hopes that Sakura would do something that reminded me of back then, just to have a reason to pretend that silent words still existed.

Because I was older, I could rationalize that Mother made it all up and made me believe that we had created something wonderful together. But that would bring no good to anything. Acknowledging that humans do not have the ability to transfer thoughts with just a look does nothing but state the obvious fact that Mother was sick, and she didn't even know it. She didn't know that she needed help or that her child would inherit the same disorder. She thought that the reason we were so different from others was because we had our power to create a world where speaking was no longer needed. She never realized that the real reason we were so alike was because we were both fated to the same mental status. And it was the warped state of our minds' continual feeding of each other's- day by day, night by night- that made us actually believe we would know each other, even in death.

But no matter how much I knew it was true, and that Mother's and my world was a place that only existed because of my fanatical need to believe everything she said- the strong beat of Sakura's heart through her stomach made me not want to choose the rational facts over the memory of how it felt to sit and hear the mind of another person. The beating in her stomach caressed my forehead in waves and for a moment I was sure I could hear Mother's voice again and see her smiling at me in our secret garden.

"Can I ask you something?" Sakura broke me out of my mind once more and I let out a grateful sigh, tightening my hands on her legs. I wasn't sure if I would break them by accident. Her hands were shaking in my hair and she clutched them slightly to try and hide it.

"You're too nosy," I admonished lightly, not able to raise my voice at the moment. It was against me.

I could feel the beating in her stomach increase. "Why did you kill your Father?" her voice cracked before she could hold it back. It took me a moment to register what she had uttered and I felt the picture I was creating in my mind shatter. I remembered that I hated her sometimes, and that was enough to make me hate her at that moment. "Sasuke?"

"Get," the harshest tone left my mouth before I knew it had come out and I extracted myself from her with a little too much force. She stumbled slightly, confused by my sudden rough-handling. She couldn't have possibly known how deep her questions bore, but there was nothing else around to take my hatred out upon- and the fear and lonely uncertainty in her eyes was the only thing that kept me from grabbing her fragile neck and squeezing Mother out of her. My hand twitched and I didn't know if I was about to hit her, but the idea was provocative. "Get out," It was all I could do to snarl at her and she turned and ran to her room down the hallway again, locking the door behind her.

* * *

_I woke up on the wooden floor of my bedroom, feeling like a car accident and wallowing in self-pity; resigned to stay hiding from Sasuke behind my locked door until the apocalypse came. I hoped it was soon because the floor was cold and, even though I knew Sasuke probably hated me now, I wanted him to tell me that there was nothing to be afraid of._

_I watched the shadows from the sun through my window splay across the wooden floor until a loud knock erupted from the door behind me. I scrambled to my feet as fast as humanly possible, trying not to make too much bustle but ended up stubbing my toe on the door frame. "Sasuke-" I began, trying to apologize, before I realized it wasn't him._

"_Brahm?" I tilted my head, confused as to why the guy Sasuke hired was waltzing through our house._

"_Sasuke told me to watch you while he is gone," he explained and walked into the living room, gesturing me to follow._

"_Did he say when he would be back?" I already knew the answer and Brahm's shaking of his head only confirmed it. "Why do you have to watch me?" I whined childishly. I was a grown woman being treated like a twelve year old boy with a new dart-gun. Brahm didn't answer my last question and settled into the same seat against the wall of the living room that Sasuke had been sitting in the night before._

"_I need you to stay out here with me. Sasuke told me to not let you out of my sight," Brahm drawled lazily from the chair, newspaper in hand. "He either thinks you're up to something and is suspicious, or you're valuable enough to his plan for him to make an actual effort to keep someone alive for once."_

"_Do you know what his plan is?" I had to speak louder while in the kitchen, grabbing a hot cup of tea, then returning to the living room and settling myself in a chair a few feet away from Brahm. I hadn't noticed how big he was until now. He took up most of the space around the chair he resided in._

"_Is that the question you really want to ask?" He turned a page of his newspaper, acting as calmly as if we were speaking of the basketball game last Saturday. But I simply nodded, playing possum. "No, I don't know his plan. I'm sure we won't until the end, when we're acting out our parts," he sounded so sure in his words._

"_I know why I am here," Brahm broke the stillness of the air with his raspy voice. "The question is: why are you?"_

"_Huh?"_

"_Do you even know why you are here still?" he quirked an eyebrow, probably thinking me to be more ignorant than he had previously conceived._

"_Because I'm still alive," I tried to answer truthfully, but felt like I was still lying. Either to him or to myself, I wasn't exactly sure._

"_That can't possibly be the only reason." He shook his head and rested his elbow on the small table to his right. It creaked in protest under his heavy weight._

"_Why are _you_ here?" I flipped his question back at him, irritated that he was asking such deeply rooted questions (questions that I forced into my subconscious), and tried not to stick my tongue out at him again._

"_Simple. To help Sasuke achieve his goal while keeping you safe from anyone who might be against him. That's what I'm paid to do. But you already knew that," he shrugged like it wasn't important. "But I am also trying to help you out here…."_

"_From what?" I almost spilled my tea on my lap, fully at attention and hoping to put together more pieces of the puzzle than I had so far._

"_From Sasuke himself," And the words seemed heavy on the cool air of the room._

"_I've resigned myself to the fact that I will probably die soon," I tried to explain but he cut me off, thinking my words to be quite funny for some reason._

"_You might have, which I doubt," I threw him a glare but he continued. "But has _he_?"_

"_That doesn't even make any sense. Sasuke knows the reality of this situation, just like I do. And he also knows that it will most likely be he himself who finishes me off. He's probably known that since the first moment we met…" I felt like I was lying again, but to only myself this time because Brahm certainly didn't buy it._

"_Why are you here, Sakura?" he asked again with more tenor in his probing voice, trying to force my cooperation with the severity of his underlying meaning._

"_I just want to help him. I want him to get what he's searching for so that I- we_- all _of us- won't have to be like this forever; frozen in place, attempting to dislodge the limits that God gives us and trying catch smoke with our bare hands," I found myself whispering. "I want to find out why I _am_ still alive…after everything…." My breathing was becoming shallow and I had to focus on it to make sure it didn't stop completely._

"_It all doesn't fit, does it?" he asked and I knew he was about to say something that I tried to not think about since that day in Dr. Kura's office. I didn't want to be faced with the many things that I needed to solve and sort through, because I had neglected them for so long in the fear that all of my unanswered questions, and the possibility that I might never be able to unlock Sasuke's psyche, would consume and suffocate me when they were finally set free. It had only been nine days since he had left me in that motel room after he had finally killed the Minister, but the magnitude of things left unanswered were spread out before me- so large a sum that I could not even make sense of it. I wasn't sure how much of my overflowing questions and fears my body could take once Brahm spoke my apprehensions aloud and called them to the forefront of my mind. He would inevitably be forcing me to either attempt the impossible task of deducing just _what_ was wrong with the Uchiha, or ignoring the craving in the pit of my stomach that said, 'You're gonna' be slaughtered like all the others if you don't get out of your denial and _do_ something!'_

_(I had thought that the Minister's murder was his only goal and that reaching it would lead to the end of this whole shebang- but it turned out that the Minister and Suna were only stepping stones for the _real_ thing Sasuke was still trying to orchestrate. I had realized in that dusty room on my first night in Sound, while talking to the Uchiha, that the only reason he had left me tied up in that motel room was because the cops were hot on our trail, and leaving me was only to distract them long enough for Sasuke to save his own skin and make it to Sound while they were all preoccupied. He had planned it all on the night he had stayed awake in the motel while I slept, not knowing that that was the night I became an integral part of Sasuke's future intentions. He had planned leaving me to the interrogation of the police, knowing that I would listen to his advice of lying to the cops so that they would not know where he had gone. He knew that doing this would nudge the feds off of his trail, inevitably leading to him being able to resume his actions without the hindrance of potentially being apprehended. Now he could kill in the safe-zone of Sound because the police were deterred and the power of working for the Kage would protect him from being stopped by anyone. And when everything had died down and he called me under that alias to rejoin him in Sound- he _knew_ I would accept. He was counting on his surety that I would, for a reason that I still asked myself, return to him in Sound. Now, all his chips were falling just like he wanted and it was time to let the games begin…. I was ashamed in myself for being so easily manipulated. I was more ashamed, though, that I had thought- for even one sliver of a moment- that maybe he wanted me in Sound because what we had been through together had kept some place in him where he preferred my _company_ over the thought of us going our own separate ways, never to see each other again. At least that, or just the fact that I was better table-company than a dead body! But, instead, I had foolishly let my undeserved faith in him cloud my judgment and guide me back to hell; I was so utterly _blind_ of the whole thing and I had idiotically let my guard down and allowed myself to believe that he could be capable of compassion- even when it went against everything I knew about the psychopathic influence. And now Sasuke had me under his thumb again- the last pawn he needed- and he could put me in whatever position of his plan that he deemed fit, using me in whatever sick, twisted game he was playing at.)_

_Before I could snap out of the revelations I was currently accosting myself with- and before I could tell Brahm that I didn't want to hear what he wanted to say because I was afraid that he would say something that would peak my obsession and force me become even more involved than I already was- he continued. "None of it makes sense because only Sasuke knows the rules; he's the one who's making up the game as we all play along, willingly or unwillingly- and he watches from the shadows. And I'm not trying to make this sound rude but, to tell the truth, he would have saved himself from a lot of trouble if he had just killed you when he killed those guards on the bus. There is something missing that brings the whole thing together, and it's something that, when discovered, will bring the reality of this whole thing crashing down on your head!" I felt like a little girl sitting in a kitchen stool again, being lectured by my parents and being forced to listen because I was smaller and more insignificant._

"_What are you getting at?" I scoffed, trying not to believe his words even though my mind told me they sounded truer than anything I could have convinced myself of._

"_I'm trying to say that Sasuke hasn't killed you yet because he _can't_ kill you," his eyes were wide, like mine- both of us leaning toward each other as if we were children telling a delicious secret. "I have seen you both interact with each other and there is something unspoken, maybe even unknown, that is there- keeping him from slaughtering you in your sleep. Admit it. That's the only reasonable explanation, isn't it?" he knew he was right. And so did I. "The only problem is finding out what it is that keeps him from evoking your death. His plan cannot be fulfilled while you are still alive, which sounds harsh but it is true… The reason he cannot settle on how to end his plan is because he is trying to find a way to obtain his goal while keeping you alive; he is trying not to acknowledge that killing you is the only way he will not be held back. You're the baggage he carries, which can be either a bad or good thing. I am trying to keep you alive, hoping it turns out to be a good thing that he has something (at least one thing) in the world that he cannot destroy. Maybe it will teach him a lesson or two…." He broke off and rubbed the rough hair of his chin in thought. "I'm sure you've noticed how he is slowly advancing himself upon you; and I think he is doing it instinctually- trying to corrupt you and make you more like him, so that he can finally kill you and get rid of whatever it is that is keeping him from doing so." The shadows from the light overhead cast downward upon his face, giving his words more force against me and maybe he didn't even know their lingering effectiveness. "Corrupting you will make it easier to kill you. It will give him a _reason_ to kill you, other than the fact that you are integrated in it all so perfectly…"_

_He seemed happy with his diagnosis of the situation and for a moment he reminded me of myself; the psychologist I had been only weeks before who bit her nails at the chance to understand something formerly believed to be impossible, and never afraid of trying or failing to unlock the secrets in the mind of a patient - always so keen to try and unravel an anomaly. And Sasuke seemed to be the hardest thing for me to unravel, but I had always just guessed that this was because I was too close to the situation (Because everything else that I was trying to unravel was fitted so snugly around his finger and under his total control. To understand everything else, I needed to first unravel _him_). I needed an outer perspective that was able to take a step back and see _every_ angle instead of just my own, and Brahm, at the moment, was that outer perspective I had been missing. He could see and understand everything that I could not because he wasn't constricted by the same position I was. Brahm was not stuck looking at only one possibility like me, so perhaps he could delve into Sasuke's character and actions in a way that I could not._

_Because I had interacted with Sasuke so closely for so long, I was not able to see past my idea that he was nothing more than psychotic. But, in all actuality, there was so much more than my limited idea of him could understand. He wasn't _only_ a psychopath; the only reason I labeled him as one was because I couldn't think of any other word to call him- the things he did definitely leaned towards that specific mental condition but it could also be something in his life that I was not aware of and that aided this disorder. Something that added on to it, and layered upon itself, to make him into the sociopathic phenomenon that he was today. (Something in family or society- maybe even his _own_ debauched mind- not just genetics, that could have molded him ever since he was very young- conditioning him into a natural born killer. Making him into something so disparate from the outside world and forcing him into his own category of personal existence- a person who fed on the hatred and death of humanity, because his human condition was not to be human. It was to be inhumanly separate from anything considered moral or just or right. He was born, or perhaps raised, in a fashion that I did not know- or understand because I could not imagine the kind of life a person must have lived to make them into such a thing- and I, therefore, could not put any reasoning to why Death was his religion- his deity)._

_Was Brahm right? Was there something going on that I was oblivious to and which kept Uchiha Sasuke from grabbing the closest thing to him and blundering me to death? I had always felt that I was a nuisance but didn't realize until just then how strange it really was that I was still alive, and I suppressed a cringe when I was thwarted with how just _wrong_ it was that I was contemplating Sasuke murdering me- and how I did it calmly without even feeling scared or angry that he could, or would, kill me for the sake of a stupid thing like his '_plan'_. I didn't mind it, and that scared me more than Sasuke himself. I frightened myself because I knew that, somehow, Sasuke had gotten into my head; somehow I went from the young psychologist fighting for my own survival in the Suna desert, to the young woman who directly put herself back into the grasp of the very man who she fought against for that same survival. I had become a completely different person because I had known that Sasuke was altering me, corrupting me, but he had done it so quietly that I didn't even notice it happening in order to protect myself form it. I didn't even notice when I altered from trying to preserve my own life to preserving Sasuke's goal instead; and throwing my life away so that a man- one who didn't even care about me in the slightest- could entertain himself by knowing he controlled it all. I had done it because- no matter how foolish or wrong I knew it to be- somewhere down the road I ended up caring about him so much that I would rather put myself at the brunt of the danger than turn my back on him. I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else but in that house, waiting to become useful for once. Also because I may have cared for him, but I was still terrified of him. He terrified me more than the thought of dying, so I chose to take my chances hoping that he would take pity on me rather than denying to help him and him killing me for simple disobedience._

_Just like I realized in the Kage's office, Sasuke didn't need me to help him with anything. He was perfectly capable of handling this all on his own because I didn't have the skill or capacity- not to mention the guts- to do what he did. How could I be of use to him if I wasn't even willing to kill like him? And that thought brought me to my next question: Was that the reason why he was trying to corrupt me? So that it would help me to be used in his plan the way I needed to be used and, therefore, easier for him to let die in the process? Could Sasuke not kill me because I had not done anything, in his opinion, to be deserving of death?_

_I believed I had the answer to that question, at least. I had not seen Sasuke kill anyone who he didn't believe needed to die. Every person I had witnessed him kill was someone whose death aided him in a way that I did not know, but it was still idealistic to the nature of 'the plan'. Every murder, every forth-bringing of their blood, was- in his eyes- a necessary action that brought him further ahead of whoever or whatever he was trying to defeat or obtain. So my other question and mission was to find out what he was after- what or _who_ he was trying so hard to stay a step ahead of._

"_What do you mean by me being "integrated so perfectly"?" I had to ask, knowing I was becoming too suspended in Brahm's words. But it was the only part of his whole explanation that didn't make sense._

"_You seriously haven't noticed?" he laughed but it wasn't crudely, just ironic. I just shook my head, waiting for him to speak more ideas that could possibly help me understand. I was hoping that the more he talked, the more likely a click would sound in my head and then I would understand everything all at once. "Everything that has happened has revolved around the one fact that you are connected to everything," he spoke slowly like he was drilling it into my head. "You worked in the asylum, you had a high position on the 'Board of Psychologists', you were a person who could have been easily thrown away if something unexpected occurred or you could have been used as a very important hostage if the police had been faster than planned," My stomach was starting to lurch and I hoped his list of reasons was short enough to end before I puked, but be kept on going until I was dizzy. "You were able to distract attention when the time came to kill the Minister, you were there to help dispose of the bodies quickly and save valuable time, he was able to use you to stall the police and make it to Sound without hindrance, you were the person who obeyed his beck-and-call when he told you to come to Sound, and _now_ you are the one left standing; the one who holds everything in one strand. If you two had not been able to get into the party in Suna where the Minister was, Sasuke could have given your name to the owner as a last resort to get in, then he could have killed you to preserve evidence of him ever being there. You were involved in everything that happened, so I'm guessing he called you back because your usefulness isn't at an end…yet." His eyes, which were bright at the beginning of the conversation, now looked to me with nothing but pity and maybe even a little awe as to why Sasuke chose someone like me to be the most important pawn._

"_Wh-" my voice was raspy and I had to clear the lump in my throat. "What should I do?"_

"_Why are you asking me?" his voice was back to its normal volume, as if we were having a usual conversation, but it seemed so loud compared to our previous whispering that it startled me back into my seat._

_I almost choked on my disbelief. "Because you're the one who clearly thinks he has all the answers!" I accused, pointing a finger in his face. He simply ignored it and picked up his newspaper once more, turning the conversation back to regular, unemotional talk. I sat back down, feeling as if all the energy in my body simply evaporated into the ceiling. "Just tell me what to do," I pleaded. It was something in my voice that caused him to look over his paper to me, acknowledging my position in our agreement._

"_You can either let him use and eventually kill you, or corrupt you," he said shortly. "That will be the only way you can help him because staying frozen in this position does nobody any good… We are all waiting for the plan to be completed, even if we are not aware of it. We can feel it coming, but we don't know why it is taking so long," He gave me a look like it was my fault for the plan's delay and then licked his finger and turned the page, finding something written in the sports section slightly concerning. "Either that, or you can choose to live and save me a lot of trouble," He pretended to think really hard about something for a moment before speaking again and I realized that the whole reason he brought up the whole thing in the first place was for the specific purpose of making me understand that I had to make the choice. Nothing would move forward until I made the choice; everything was standing still because I had given up on the possibility of surviving without even _trying_. "If you die, Sasuke gets what he desires. But if you live he keeps the last sliver of his humanity, which I think he wants more than whatever he is planning for- he just doesn't realize it yet." I couldn't help but smile at the ridiculousness of it all and I could tell Brahm knew I finally understood._

"_I'd like to live," I sighed and rested back to my now cold tea._

"_I like that idea as well." He agreed and the tension in the room lifted more with each breath we took thereafter._

_But, I couldn't rule out the fact that Brahm and I could be completely wrong in our suspicions. One thing I learned in the last two or so weeks was: when you think you figured out what Sasuke is up to, you are dead wrong. Brahm had a convincing argument- an argument that I even believed could be the right one- but whenever I thought about everything the Uchiha had ever said to me or every other moment we had known each other, I could not imagine him ever standing above me with the intention of hurting me. Even seeing first-hand how ruthless and practically _inhuman_ he could be, I could not fathom the same man that had danced with me- the same man I had almost kissed- as the person who was plotting my downfall. I could pick anything that the Uchiha had ever said to me, and I would never find a hint of anything but amusing humor (mostly at my expense for his entertainment) or the slight way he would tell me something to make me think it was an order, but he would still look to me to make sure I agreed anyway. Or how he would tell me things when he thought I wasn't listening, like when he spoke about his mother in the alley. Or how when he stood in front of Gonzo to shield me from the gun, it was not for preserving me in his plan. If it was for the sake of the plan, he would not have put his own life in danger to save mine because I was easily replaceable, but he was not._

_I was at a stand-still between my suspicions and what I wanted to be true. And I wanted it to be true so bad that it literally hurt to turn away from the hope that this could all be wrong and Sasuke could be keeping me alive because he had developed _some_ kind of emotion toward me other than dominance._

"_How did you get so smart, Brahm?" I teased and he did nothing but say that his job was to sit back and watch. 'You learn things by watching and, after so long, you begin to see things that don't seem to really be there,' he had explained and I had said he sounded a lot like Sasuke. We both laughed at that._

"_I'm going to have to still play along, pretending I am only here for the psychological experience," I dead-panned, placing the back of my hand to my forehead as if I were completely doomed- which was how I truly felt but I wouldn't tell Brahm that._

_Brahm had a different idea and tossed his wrinkled paper to the small table but it sailed with the air to the floor instead, hovering for a moment above the wood before settling. "How long has it been since he-" he made a crude hand-gesture that I didn't have the guts to think about the meaning of. "He is a guy after all," He shrugged, laughing to himself and his disturbing humor, as if his being a guy meant that the entire solution was some kind of guttural 'adult-sleepover'._

"_Sasuke is mentally-warped, not sexually-deprived," I tried to hide my horror at his sexual-innuendo. The man had no conviction and I didn't want to admit that I had entertained the thought for even a moment._

"_Now, Sakura," he held up a lecturing finger and shook it at me. "Don't they both go hand in hand?"_

_I stood up as fast as I could, scoffing repeatedly and sputtering, red-faced, for something to say. "I- you…Doing _that_ wouldn't change anything! It doesn't even have anything to do with what we were just talking about!"_

"_Doesn't it?" he pressured with a cheesy grin at my expression, wagging his eyebrows in a way that was too familiar for comfort._

"_You two are just alike! You're no better than _him_!" I squawked, huffing and puffing my way to the complete other side of the room and secluding myself to a sofa by the bookcases._

Brahm was still on the other side, laughing as loudly as humanly possible, when Sasuke entered through the front porch with a questioning and amused tilt of the head, slamming the door behind him and waking me from my dream.

I was still on the same floor in front of by bedroom door, just like in the dream, and the house was too quiet to be comfortable. The sun was pinning through my windows and splaying on the floor the same way as well.

I tried to think about only the important parts of my dream, like the _relevant_ fraction of my conversation with Brahm- and I figured that it was my subconscious, yelling at me to take the warnings seriously. It was everything I had shoved in the back of my mind and it had collected itself enough to finally surface and tell me what I secretly believed was happening.

But the more I tried to focus on the important parts, the more I kept wondering why my subconscious would make Brahm suggest that Sasuke's problem was sexual frustration. Even while I showered, I spent fifteen minutes just standing under the water and running that part over and over through my head. And I couldn't stop myself after that from picturing it, then wondering idly if Sasuke was good in bed.

Dream-Brahm's last words infected my mind, making it almost impossible for any coherent thought, other than my humiliating curiosity of Sasuke's sex-life, to form. All that kept running through my mind was why (in the dream) I had even entertained the thought in the first place, and why I couldn't seem to think about anything other than how perverted I must be for dreaming such a thing. And I wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, but I was just nervous that the next time I saw Sasuke I might accidentally picture him naked.

And, one more thing: I wasn't sure how- or even why- but I had never realized until that point just how much I stared at his ass or why I constantly noticed how broad his shoulders were.


	3. III: Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out

I do not own Naruto.

_I hope you guys like the poem, it took me forever to write! I hope it symbolizes Sakura's growing insanity well.._

* * *

Natural Born Killers Part III

Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out

* * *

_I am the Juggernaut.  
I am Thee, I, Me.  
Even in the background;  
even sitting next to Thee._

_Can you feel me?  
Can you feel me as you read?  
I am the Juggernaut,  
and I watch you; I mislead._

_I am I- Thee. I am Me.  
Casting, I know you not.  
A Shadow among Shadows-  
I am the Juggernaut._

_The Jabberwocky-  
The King's knight for three-  
Garrotte and inflamed, hunting after thee.  
Hunting after me; I. The Banshee._

_Esprit of the Refugee; You think you have out-run me.  
You are my Garnishee- My short précis- Bourgeoisie.  
I own Thee like I own Me. I- The Succubi._

_So I lie low. I wait.  
I cut men down.  
And I force to Mate._

* * *

She is the first thing he remembers- which was sort of ineffectual, perhaps. It was an impersonal sort of logic that he cannot explain because to do so would only corrupt its importance.

But its importance, at the same time, is also lost on him for the simple reason that he cannot fathom why her face was the first thing to flash before his eyes when he awoke in his bed.

Sometimes she would stroll by his bedroom, humming a light tune that he could only half-remember. But the rigidity of her shoulders and the way her head seemed to want to turn in the direction of his room's open door showed that, in some minute way or fashion, she had something she was hiding. It was an idea- or maybe a question that she wanted to ask him- but, all the same, she had something. He did not know why or how or when, but it itched the back of his skull whenever she passed by to the living room on the worn, wooden floor - still humming that insipid tune.

Sometimes she would walk silently- and that was nice- but by then it didn't seem to fit well with everything else about her. Besides, her shoes made loud clacking sounds when she wasn't singing- which was perhaps understandable, but still annoying.

He was, in some ways, glad she did not enter his room. He already had enough to think about without her coming and interrupting everything- because he knew that, if she had come in, she would have said whatever it was plaguing her mind.

Besides, he didn't believe himself to be the kind of person to easily give her an answer; and that would only make for a long and weary conversation of her demanding information and him vaguely side-stepping every question - and that's about all there was to it. Haruno Sakura, he thought, did the right thing by not asking all of the things burning in her eyes. Because she would receive no answers.

Until four days after Sakura had arrived to Sound; the curtains were closed and the lights were off, though it was dark in the house because of this. He guessed it was fault of the electricity shorting out every once in a while (Sound had so many buildings to utilize that the electricity would many times not be able to keep up). But, more importantly, it made the house even more silent than before. So when she walked into the door frame with her controlled expression, her shoes were making all kinds of racket. The silence only seemed to intensify this, which he found abominable. Her expression only made him wonder all the more why her face had filtered through his mind, dancing behind his closed lids and waking him in the early hours of that morning. The ideas still burned in her eyes, but the question she asked was different than what she truly wanted to know. "Our first 'job' for the Kage is today, right?" She uttered lightly and he noticed the effort she put into avoiding eye contact.

She had found him in his room, reclining in the chair by the window seat that tucked itself into a solemn corner. His eyes were closed, face relaxed and head resting lightly against the back of the chair in thought, but there was nothing relaxed about his posture. His shoulders were too tense and the muscles in his neck were strained in some kind of stressful thought. His right hand hung over and arm rest as if he were sleeping, but she knew him better than that. If Sakura was awake, chances were that he was too.

She didn't spare him another look before_ trudging_ over to his desk and other utensils that he did not recognize, for he never had time to use them. She waited for him to answer her while rummaging through the documents across the desk. She threw a disapproving glance toward one particular stack of papers he had become angry with and had speared to the wall with a knife from the kitchen. '_Trudge,'_ He thought to himself: it was a smooth word which articulated perfectly the way she held herself in his presence. _'The weary and_ _depressing walk of a person who has nothing left except for the impulse to simply soldier on,'_ the definition of the word was something that he was not sure how he had come to knowing. But the fact that '_trudging'_ was what she was doing sort of irritated him. "What exactly are you looking for, Sakura?" He pronounced himself perfectly, knowing that she hated when he spoke as if she were below him. "I don't come into your room and rummage through _your_ belongings…" He leaned lightly in the chair by the curtained windows, watching her face turn from curiosity to disillusion. "Unless you count the time I went through your underwear drawer," she didn't know if he were joking or being serious, but she chose to ignore it, all the same.

"I'm looking for something about this job-" she cut herself off by standing from her searching suddenly and glaring directly toward his dark form, hidden in the shadows of the room. "Since you have refused to tell me anything about it," She accused bitingly and returned to her fruitless search.

"Well, in that case," his straight teeth almost seemed to glow in the candlelight as he tugged a strange smile. "You will be disappointed," he waved his hand at her, half-heartedly urging her out of the room with anything other than seriousness. "The paper I burned-"

"The one you wouldn't let me see! The Kage gave it to you for us _both_ to read and you _destroyed it_!"

He cleared his throat and continued once he knew she was done interrupting. "The paper I burned was the only one," he yawned as if the conversation had bored him to ten years of his life. "The information's all up here," he tapped his finger to his temple. "You won't find anything….especially not by _rudely_ invading my privacy…" he trailed and stood from his chair, stretching and reaching for his shirt on the dresser. If her eyes lingered a little too long, he didn't comment on it.

"I hate that shirt," She crossed her arms, lying through her teeth; if only as a reason to at least _try_ to bruise his large ego. But it was ineffectual, as usual.

"I know," he breathed through his nose loudly in what she could only guess was a weird sigh of contentment. "That's why I wear it," He argued as if it were solidly rational.

They stood in silence for a moment before she spoke again. He seemed to be waiting patiently for her to do so, so she took the initiative. "I need to know, Sasuke," she said, expecting him to know she was talking about the job without her having to voice it properly. "Whether you like it or not. The little game is over and now's the time to tell me what's going on," She went back to her search on the writing desk, throwing a few stacks of papers and ancient looking books to the floor in her hurry. Sasuke didn't say anything about her rudeness, but she could feel him throwing exclamation points at her back.

"What exactly would you like to know?" he answered evasively.

"The basics," She said shortly, not wanting to get caught up again in his distant speaking. She knew he would try to change the subject if she said anything remotely close to a full sentence.

"We find the guy we're looking for and take care of him," he said just as shortly as he possibly could, as if it were a competition between them.

"We kill him?" she tried to beat him at his own game, attempting not to cringe at the words. She didn't want her subconscious to beat her up again and she didn't want to remember just how much of her humanity she was willing to give up for this man.

"Naturally," he drolled, winning with a one-worded reply that only he could have pulled off correctly. "Curious, isn't it?"

But she didn't answer. She was too distracted by an open book lying on the window sill next to the chair he was previously sitting in. The window cast just enough light for the corner of the page to become visible. The dusty parchment was left open; a certain monochromatic picture of a man on the dog-eared page.

She strode across the room as fast as her feet could skip, which earned nothing but an inquisitive brow from the raven-haired man to her left. She raised the book in her arms, shifting its slightly heavy weight in her palms to read the worn writing. "Now, what could this be?" she rolled the words on her tongue, giving him a suspicious glance up and down, playfully more than anything else. He didn't seem to find it funny. She read a few paragraphs as he stood silently, studying her, before she spoke again to reflect on the text. "An intimately detailed description on the life of a man named…" she paused to squint at the worn words. "Daisuke Haru," The text was hand-written and hard to make out- the scrawl was slightly off-hand, as if the writer were in a hurry. "Oh, and look at this, Sasuke!" she exclaimed sarcastically, pointing to a sentence that he couldn't possibly have been able to read from his position. "He conveniently works for the Kage's rival, which brings me to the conclusion that the Kage wants him dead. Which only means that he must be the one we're going to kill…" she trailed off, throwing it all in his face. He didn't seem impressed, like he left it there on purpose and didn't really mind that she found out after all. This irked her somewhat that she never seemed to be able to get the upper hand, even in something as small as this.

"Sneaky little brown-noser," he chanted under his breath. She ignored his aggravated insult.

"At least I don't have a hidden agenda, like you do," She returned and he scoffed at her lame come-back.

"This is cute, Sakura," he bit out between his teeth, but not rudely, gesturing to what she was doing. "Really cute," he praised her with a frown.

She glared and continued reading aloud. He sighed and plopped tiredly onto his bed, groaning exaggeratedly into his mattress. "Coincidentally, Daisuke Haru is planning on running for mayor this year. How _surprising_. I guess the Kage doesn't want him taking over his position. So the only way to secure his own place in office is to have us kill him…" he heard her let out a theatrical whine. "Typical overreacting male," her jibe was directed toward the Kage specifically, but she hoped the Uchiha man on the bed took some offense in it as well. "I don't see why I have to help you with this. It seems like you've got it all under control. I'll be of no use considering I don't know anything about the _real_ details," she threw him an accusing glare, but he didn't see it. He had covered his head with the pillow, but it still didn't block out her incessant noise.

"Your feebleness is outstanding," he pointed out slowly, raising his head and peeking from under the corner of the pillowcase so she could hear him, then burying himself under it once again.

"I could say something similar to you," she ground out, leaning her hip against the window sill and slapping the book shut, throwing it towards the bed but missing him by a few unimpressive feet. He threw her a warning glance when he felt the jostling of the book's weight hit the bed. "But I prefer to keep quiet in matters when I don't comprehend them," she shrugged out the quote, earning a small amused smile to replace his scowl. She knew if there was anything to put him in a better mood, it was Sophocles. "But, on a more serious note," she tilted her head and he removed the pillow from his person, standing and making his way to the messy writing desk to glare at everything she had put out of place. "I wasn't joking when I said you don't need me to do this with you, Sasuke. Furthermore, why do you get to always know everything while I'm left in the dark until the last minute?" her tone was border-lining on a tantrum, but she didn't pay it any heed.

"Because, _Sakura,_" he spoke slowly, purring out her name. She felt something close to a tingle run up her spine and was glad he wasn't looking at her. "In this operation, I am," he pointed at himself with his thumb, "The powerhouse- or backbone, if you please. And you are," he pointed towards her. "Subtlety and diplomacy," He finally grew tired of merely glaring at the mess and began tidying the desk once more.

"Is that supposed to be some kind of sexual innuendo?" she was skeptical. He usually didn't dole out compliments unless he wanted something that he was in no position to ask for (which was definitely the case. He was in no position to ask her to do this job because her gut told her it was something tragic). And the fact that he usually spoke in nothing _but_innuendos did not help his argument. "Because I'll report you to the Kage for sexual harassment," She half-joked, more comfortable with his perversely concealed jokes than with his rare chumminess. The look he gave her let her know he was being completely serious in what he said, and the thought of him saying something even remotely nice to her made her mentally cringe. Sasuke being nice was something that she would always feel a little weird about.

"Harassed, schmer-assed; _bare_-assed! It is neither of consequence nor schmon-sequence," he rhymed the non-existent words together. "Not to mention I just plain don't give a _rat's-_ass."

She rolled her eyes at his childish antics, continuing in her attempts to convince him of her uselessness in the job, but he wasn't buying it for a second. She guessed he took her struggling as her being scared and backing out instead of him just realizing that she really _wasn't_ fit for the job. She had a feeling like something horrible was going to happen, as it usually did around someone like Sasuke. "Sasuke," she spoke quietly, hoping he would hear the pleading in her voice. "I think I should stay here," her voice trembled slightly, but she didn't think he heard it from across the room. She had been wrong before, though. Several times. "I think the Kage is up to something-"

"I just don't see that working out very well for you." Was all of a reason he gave, referring to her request to stay.

"-I know that Kage wants me gone. I can tell by the way he looks at me. He doesn't want me around you; he wants me dead-" She tried to blurt it all out before he had a chance to stop her, almost choking on air as she took a sharp intake of breath to start again. "I know that if you had to choose between us, you would choose the Kage," he gave her a strange look. "But I really don't think this is going to end well."

"Are you accusing me of nepotism?" he raised a brow, turning fully to her and putting his hands mockingly on his hips in the jovial image an affronted woman. She chose that she had more important things to do than take his misogynistic actions offensively.

"I'm being serious!" She hollered in frustration, clenching her fingers around the edge of the windowsill to keep herself sitting. But he paid her no heed, instead choosing to stare at one particular painting on the pale wall to his right. He itched the back of his head, studying the brush strokes closely before murmuring to either her or himself, she was not sure which.

"There is no hunting like the hunting of a man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and like it, never care for anything else thereafter," his voice was low, almost lost over the birdsong outside through the cracked window (It seemed as if he never closed the damned thing). She couldn't fathom why that quote meant so much at the moment, but it seemed that it was all it took to stop her protests. The heat in her nervous stomach seemed to rise as if she were going to be sick.

"Your confidence is disproportional to your ability," Sakura chided, but he noticed the falsehood in it. She was trying anything to get him to let her off the hook. "You're deluding yourself."

"Hmm," he made a show of thinking for a moment and she knew what he would say next would be something to deflate the conversation. He always did that when he wanted her to stop prying.

"You're just like the guy who thought he saw Jesus in his cookie," she accosted him, finally looking towards his direction to find him leaning on the wall, staring back at her questionably.

"It was a taco shell," He answered as if it was common knowledge and she was obtuse for not knowing it correctly.

"What?"

"It was a taco shell," He answered again, not changing his strange expression and ruffling his hair behind his ear in a striking motion. She couldn't help but picture him as a wolf. He certainly fit the description.

"Well, that changes _everything_!" she hollered again and he cringed, the headache from his hangover coming back full-strength. He made it an effort to block her out, but, as always, she was too hard to ignore. She continued cursing him, which he found slightly enjoyable but more annoying than anything else. He waited until her ranting died down and her frustration slightly ebbed away with her internal spouting. The sun was rising higher and higher by the minute and he was beginning to feel the inane urge to tap his fingers on the wood of the desk in boredom. He needed something to entertain himself, he thought, looking to the pink headed woman sitting shakily in the corner.

"Every year in this country," he began by cutting off her carousing and she almost growled at his confusing speech. She swore he changed subjects so much just to annoy her in his randomness. "There are approximately 20 serial killers; 10 of whom are apprehended and 10 of whom are still on the loose," he picked up a ballpoint pen from the desk and fiddled lightly with it in his fingers as he thought to himself before continuing. "And they are responsible for around 200 deaths annually," he paused drastically, making her wonder if that was all he really was going to say or not. She almost jumped when his voice cut the air again. "Their only goal is furthering in the deconstruction of societal mores," he pointed the tip of the pen at her from across the room, trying to project his words onto her. "Not _only_ do they kill," his eyes seemed far away as he explained, finding some kind of fascination in the information. "But they do it in a way which also brings pain to whoever finds the body, as well. It is as if they are not enough satisfied with simplistic sadism anymore- murder is not enough to some of them, so their methods of torture become more sinister; more inhuman," his voice was rising with each word and she found herself cowering slightly into the sill of the window. She could almost feel the vibration of his voice in the atmosphere of the room. "_Some_ serial killers, in fact, may eat the shredded remains of their victims- they do it as if to confirm to themselves that they had, in fact, killed someone; to somehow satisfy a deep psychological need to connect themselves with their victim," his voice which was usually so smooth was elated with something she had never heard from him before. She couldn't find the word to describe it and 'excitement' didn't seem adequate enough. "And the pleasure of the act itself does nothing but further their 'dastardly deeds'."

She had nothing to say. She didn't know what to say, or even what the point of him saying all of that was- but it reminded her of him so well; as if he were simply describing himself to her. It was information she already knew, but had never associated him with until now.

"Now," he walked toward her hunched form, trying to overpower her with his presence as he leaned over her body. "Are you going to do as I say and help me-" He flicked the pen up in his fingers so suddenly that she couldn't help the cowering flinch that overtook her; and, somehow, her frightened expression tickled him more than it should have. "Or do I have to stab you with this pen?"

* * *

It took her a while to speak to him again, which he probably _expected_ after what he had said to her. He admitted that it was slightly inappropriate, but still necessary. He didn't know exactly if he expected it or not because he hadn't given it much thought.

But she chose to speak up when he seemed to be even more brooding than normal, which would usually have put her on edge if she weren't so used to it by then. His simple black pants hung lazily over his black converse- the straps of the shoes loose and begging any less coordinated man to become wary- and his ebony shirt matched the rest, its V-neck hanging enough to expose only a small portion of his chest. Quite a novelty, really.

"Where are we going?" Was the first thing she asked, forcing herself to stop noticing such strange things. Brahm had driven the same black car as last time when Sasuke had brought her to the night club, but he had parked in front of an unfamiliar shop. Sasuke had made her walk with him the rest of the way and after ten minutes her curiosity got the best of her. The sun was scorching at its highest peak and there was a slight wind blowing. She glared up at the large ball of heat soaring overhead; it was laughing at her, which she didn't find very appropriate.

"Reconnaissance," he answered, glaring at the sun as well. Perhaps it was taunting him, too.

"Why?" she asked, not caring if she annoyed him with all of her unruly questions.

"It's what I do when I don't know what the fuck I'm doing," he talked at her over his shoulder then turned back to the direction he was leading to.

"What kind of research are we doing, then?" she kept on with her interrogations.

"That kind that will get us killed," he wagged his eyebrows at her the same way he used to when they first met. She hoped he was joking, but he probably wasn't.

"Har har," she forced the mocking laugh through her dry lips. "Do you compose all these brilliantly formulated retorts at night and keep them under your pillow?" She though she heard him laugh lightly and crossed her arms in doubt. Of course he wouldn't laugh, she reassured herself. "Or do you simply have a glitch in your brain that forces you to act _so _distrustful of human nature that you resort to answering all of my questions so shiftily?" She thought she heard him laugh again under his breath, staring at him with unblinking eyes as if he might do it again. But he did nothing except turn to her over his shoulder again, not faltering in his pace.

"We're going to get a little more information on Daisuke Haru," his deep tenor was unmistakable in the loud shouting of merchants on the streets. She didn't even have to strain to hear him, for she was so accustomed to his voice that she found it without difficulty. "The book you boycotted told me the basics, but I don't know the inner workings of his estate," he finished.

"We're going to his _home_ to…" she couldn't bring herself to say 'kill him' so she let the sentence trail into the wind until the sun burned it to a crisp. "That's pretty illegal; even for us." She raised a skeptical brow that she knew he would merely sneer at.

"Where else did you think we were going to do it?" was his snooty answer, treating her again as if she were stupid and picking up the pace. She had to almost jog to keep up. "While he's sleeping. No witnesses and it'll be safer if we can blend in with the night."

"Well, thank you, Captain Pompous," she threw him a daggering look, not knowing if he would like that name or 'Captain Obvious' better, but his back was still facing her. She wished he could have seen how impressive her glare was. "And for the record, the abject terror on my face is an entirely accurate reflection of how I feel about killing a man in his own bed."

"Your objections are dually noted, Miss Negative Nancy," he returned in a more Sasuke-like show of humor and she gave up, feeling overshadowed by his impressiveness. Until he suddenly turned off the walking path and found his way to a random merchant's booth that he had found particularly interesting.

"I've been noticing lately that you've been even more off-kilter than usual; as if you're suspicious of me or something. Care to explain?" he asked lightly, but didn't give her a chance to answer before quickly asking her another question. "How do these look?" He asked, the conversation abruptly turning a different direction entirely as he put on a pair of sunglasses and looked at her, posing ridiculously in an imitation of the model on the wall's advertisement. She ignored his second question and the way he somehow looked better than the advertisement itself.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because I don't wanna' look like an idiot," he was immediately exasperated with her as he sighed out the words.

"No. I meant, why would you want to know my motives for being suspicious?" She tugged the glasses from his face, trying to read his eyes in the hopes of finding the truth somewhere in them. His brows furrowed.

"I just hoped this would be more fun for you than sitting at a desk in Konoha. Was I wrong to assume such a thing?" his face was semi-blank as he looked down at her own, studying every separate feature for something.

"Oh, yes! I just _love_ having to help you do all of this- and the fact that you will kill me if I try to leave definitely enthralls me. And I'm so _utterly_ excited that the Kage wants me dead, too," I gave him a fake smile and two thumbs up. He noticed my immediate sarcasm and looked at me boredly for a moment before turning back to what he was doing and he changed the subject again; he immediately declared thirst and walked briskly through the crowd of shoppers, making his way to a large, heavy wooden door of a bar.

He didn't wait for the hostess to seat us, instead choosing to find a place himself. He led her to the bar area, precariously sitting on one stool and motioning Sakura to do the same. She plopped herself next to his form and stared at whatever she could, only as a way to keep her mind off of him. But he was as intrusive as usual.

"A pint of beer, my dear man!" Sasuke called to the barkeep, signaling to the counter in front of him where the stench of spilled and dried alcohol wafted into the air from the worn wood.

"A pint at 12 in the afternoon?" she questioned from the bar-stool next to him disapprovingly.

"You're right," he sighed, seeing her logic. "Another, please!" he called to the bartender and a second pint of beer was placed in front of him before she could protest how irresponsible he was being. But he did nothing other than take one to his mouth and tilt the large handled glass back to his lips as he looked at her from the corner of his eye, pushing the other vat of liquid towards her on the counter. She gave it an unsure glance before looking to him again, seeing that he seemed to enjoy it and making up her mind quickly when she noticed his adams-apple move in his steady gulps and the lush liquid trickled lightly a little onto his lip. He slammed the half-empty container onto the counter just as she grasped her own. She watched as his tongue darted out to capture the runaway mixture until he looked to her, catching her in the act. She sputtered lightly, not knowing what to do before simply tilting the drink to her own mouth and chugging until the alcohol warmed her body and made her feel a little better about the situation (even though she was pretty sure that he was aware of his effect on people. With his intelligence, he _had_ to know just why he stopped people in their tracks everywhere he went. He was beautiful, after all). Had he planned this all along? Did he plan to get her drunk so the idea of killing wouldn't be as hard with liquid courage running through her veins (He never did _anything_ without cause)? Probably, she told herself, slamming her own container down as well and sizing him up. He found her amusing, for some reason, and tilted his head back in a sharp laugh.

"So, down to business," she rationed and he frowned, not wanting to get to talking about such things so quickly.

"Hn," he offered, hoping she would do most of the talking. His prayers were answered when she began again.

"I'm guessing that this is going to be kinda' like the other times, right?" she didn't wait for an answer. "Because it seems simple enough, even though I'm still confused about the details," she kept talking- fuming at the bit- until she had nothing to say anymore. He hadn't been paying attention until the last sentence: "I'm talking too much, aren't I? I'm just nervous about the job…" she sighed for a reason unknown to him and stared dejectedly at her half-full pint. He watched her for a moment, trying to decipher her attitude. It was silent after that for a while; not awkwardly, at all, though. But it seemed that it was always Sakura that broke such silences. "Hey, Sasuke," she called quietly and he turned to her slightly, showing only half-interest in her start. "Do you ever dream about the people you killed?" she blinked a few times. "Do you ever feel disturbed…or guilty? Especially for your Father?" she seemed nervous for asking such a question, but he didn't understand why. Such a thing was natural for her to wonder, he thought.

"It was a great accomplishment," he said simply, thinking back to that night with his father's and his mother's bodies buried under the house. "I do not see how accomplishing something for myself is so horrible. People accomplish things every day," His answer was evasive again and he was still wondering why a question like the one she asked had gone through her head in the first place.

"Oh," she answered lamely as if that was all the answer she needed to understand him, not even giving the sarcastic remark that he had expected. They sat in silence again and all that was heard was the clanking of mugs from the other early customers and the music from the juke-box in the corner playing a song she did not know. "You don't want to talk about this, I suppose," she uttered at his side, noting his straight and stiff posture. Or was that how he always held himself?

"I would rather not talk about my dead parents over drinks," he conceded, nodding slightly and staring at his own drink. They both grabbed their pints simultaneously and drank the rest in order to be rid of the awkward silence. Sasuke came to the conclusion that he didn't actually care if she asked those questions or why she asked them; because he found that he always answered them anyway- even if the answer wasn't real and was merely a way to console her curiosity without giving too much away. It was a strange thing, he noted.

"We should probably get going," she heard the dark haired man say quietly after staring at the clock for fifteen minutes straight. "If we want to get this over with soon."

"I'm looking forward to regretting this," the pink haired woman let out a deep breath next to him and he only guessed she was talking about the 'job'. "Someone is going to die tonight…that much is certain." Her gaze was far away, seeing things unknown to him- perhaps imagining herself to be the one to perish.

"I'm not afraid of death," she heard him say under the music fuming over them from the same corner. "What's it gonna' do; kill me?" he tried to alleviate the tension of the conversation- finding it satisfactory when she smiled slightly at his answer.

"You're ridiculous," she accused lightly and he didn't find any reason to argue against her this time.

* * *

Sasuke's idea of "we should probably get going" turned out to be him dragging her out to the alley way behind the bar (she noticed again how they always seemed to end up in alleys together), shiftily following some guy that Sakura had never seen before. Sasuke kept his gaze trained onto the man, never faltering his watch until the stranger changed course. Sasuke grabbed her upper arm a little too harshly to traverse down to the other side of the alleyway; in the shadows out of sight. He lined his back against the brick wall to minimize his tall stature (Sakura would never be able to understand the way he carelessly took up space so easily) and keep from being seen by the other man walking the streets and buying different variations of vegetables.

The Uchiha let his gaze roam to the woman for only a second but that was all he needed to find something about her that he didn't like. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Her fists became balled at her side in a white-knuckled grip, and she was shaking with what he thought might be her usual quickness to anger. "What do you mean 'what are you doing?'" she glared, seething the words through her teeth. "I don't _know_ what I'm doing because _you_ won't tell me anything that is going on!" he stopped her before she could call attention to them, smothering her mouth with his rough hand and dragging her to where he was standing near the wall. He released her mouth, waiting for her to get the hint. When she didn't (all she did was stand there looking at him in confusion) he decided to take action himself and deal with her later. Her grasped her shoulders, turning her around to face out of the alley way, as if he were guiding a child, then grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her quickly into a crouching position behind a small dumpster that was leaking something that Sakura did not want to name at the moment. Sasuke gave her a look as if he was trying to make her learn something about stealth but she was too distracted to properly take the lesson in.

Sakura felt him hovering over her hunched form. She could picture him perfectly- he would be standing with his nearly perfect posture, right behind her. His dark, unruly hair would be out of place, like he took a tumble in the hay and didn't bother to correct himself afterward. His black shirt would be wrinkled slightly from horsing her around. His gun (which was quickly becoming his favorite hobby and companion) would be hauled over his right hip and placed precariously in his pants; and he would be…smirking.

And she couldn't deny the olfactory sense of smell. A musk and dirt and utterly _male_ scent washed over her and she couldn't stop herself from closing her eyes and leaning back slightly towards his hovering frame. She didn't pay attention to how long she crouched, almost touching her back to his chest, or the fact that she wasn't paying the least bit of attention to the man they were supposed to be trailing- until the Uchiha decided that enough was enough and she needed to come back down to earth. "You really should be paying better attention to what's going on," he whispered lowly and she could feel his lips vibrate against the lobe of her ear.

She sighed and lowered her head in defeat, glaring at her sandaled feet as though they were the most entertaining thing in the world; and perhaps they were, in comparison to Sasuke's odd expression. She tried to regain her composure but it wasn't the same as before. She could feel something close to terror or hysteria bubbling in her chest (the feeling had become second-nature to her ever since her dream about Brahm and her subconscious' desire to make her feel guilty for the rest of her short life).

"Why are we following this guy? He's not Daisuke," she delved into the hushed conversation, trying to distract herself from how he was _still_ hovering there, only mere inches from her neck. He was still looking at her and she wondered how he was watching the stranger at the same time, but she didn't question it. Things like these didn't need answering; they were merely a side-effect of Sasuke being Sasuke.

"Because he has created some trouble for the Kage- plus he knows the inner workings of Daisuke's estate so we can infiltrate it tonight- so he is due for some punishment." Was all he said and she prodded for more information.

"What sort of punishment?"

The words formed on his lips almost terrified her, even though she knew what his answer might be. "The cruel and unusual sort," he answered, his lips forming a tight line as he went back to watching the man at the vegetable stand.

The wind blew in the silence. It tickled Sakura's skin, rustling her hair gently from her shoulder to her neck until it hung away from her skin- and she couldn't be entirely sure if it was the wind or if it was Sasuke trickling his fingers upon the soft skin of her pulse. Either way, she was too afraid to turn her head and find out because she knew she would only be met with him hovering there, no matter how hard she tried to ignore his close presence.

* * *

We sat there for Kami only knew how long before Sasuke was finally becoming irritated as well. The balls of my feet were getting sore from crouching and I was sure that I had swallowed enough gnats to get an intestinal issue later on in life.

I almost sighed in relief when the stranger we were following went out of sight and Sasuke twisted quickly, stretching his back and cracking his knuckles a little before giving me a side-cocked head, "I gotta' take a piss," Sasuke announced grumpily from his position as I turned to crouch again in front of him, as if I were bowing to the Uchiha. "Don't do anything while I'm gone, yeah?" he half-warned and half-joked the words.

"What-no!" I grabbed his shirt sleeve to keep him from standing to leave, but to no avail- he dragged me up with him. "Sasuke!" I almost yelped out, stomping my foot childishly onto the cobblestone pavement and throwing my hands into the air in exasperation.

Sasuke threw his hands into the air, as well. "Sakura!" he mimicked, stomping his own foot, too.

"You can't leave me to do this on my own. I-" He pushed his finger against my lips to silence me and I had to resist the idea of slightly parting my lips just enough to take the tip of it into my mouth and suck lightly on his skin.

"Sakura," he uttered sternly and I was afraid for a moment that he had read my mind and was going to lecture my lewd thoughts. I stubbornly refused to look up at him; I knew that if I did, it would only make it that much harder to look away again. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and replaced his finger over my mouth with his thumb instead, curling his hand around the back of my head and neck. His fingers were cool as they splayed through my hair and pressed to the skin of my scalp; the rough, calloused pad of his thumb pressed my lips roughly into my teeth as he forced me to tilt my head up towards his face. I could feel my heartbeat in the pressure of his touch and I hoped he couldn't. It was far too fast to be ignored or considered anything other than erratic. I still refused to look at him, even after he successfully positioned my head to face up at him from his taller position. My eyes immediately focused on the brick wall over his left shoulder, seeming to find the strange moss growing on its wet surface particularly interesting. At least, that's what I hoped he would think I was interested in. Secretly, I was still trying to calm my heart-rate and concentrate on keeping my lips together- though I was sure I wouldn't be able to part them even if I tried; his grip was too strong to allow such leeway.

"_It's all in your head, Sakura,"_ I repeated to myself over and over, trying to dispel myself from falling back into how I used to be before my dream- before dream-Brahm had made me realize that the reality of everything, before I knew that Sasuke didn't care about me in any way other than as an asset to his stupid plan. But, God, it was so easy to believe that Sasuke _did_ care. So easy- and so enjoyable; above _everything_ else, it was enjoyable- to pretend and delude myself into thinking that Sasuke was crazy and misunderstood, but he wasn't evil. That he wasn't _heartless_.

"_But he _is_ heartless,"_ I chanted. Heartless and cold and single-minded and selfish….and utterly, infinitesimally what I wanted more than anything else on the planet.

My mind strayed again to his rough thumb, his fingers curled around my neck to hold it in place while my hair danced and tickled his hand and forearm, his forearm that I had probably stared at so much in the last 2 ½ weeks since first meeting him that I could imagine them vividly, even while staring stubbornly at the stupid, filthy wall.

His other hand clasped onto my upper arm, but gentler than his right hand still was as he shook me slightly, trying to force my eyes to his. He hated it when I didn't listen like I used to before I had that dream. He hated it when he couldn't control me as easily as he could control the Kage or anybody else that didn't know the _real_ Sasuke- the one that I knew. The one that I would foolishly and _obviously_ die for; the one I would willingly trick myself into loving again. Why else would I have stayed? Why else would I have done all those horrible things and quite possibly damned myself to Hell, just because he had asked and looked at me with those unbelievably and controllingly beautiful, iridescent eyes of the deepest and most haunting shade of onyx that had ever existed?

"_Don't do this, Sakura,"_ my mind warned. It was the smart part of me: the one that I constantly ignored and pushed into the back of my mind along with everything else that had been bubbling forth lately. _Don't let yourself be manipulated by these feelings_!" It warned me again.

"_But,"_ I thought to it, ignoring its warnings and grasping for any excuse to pay attention to Sasuke's hand again instead of the suffocating feeling of my mind's inner monologue. It felt so much better to just give in to letting everything happen and to stop fruitlessly fighting the Uchiha- I knew that I had no chance of winning against him anyway and that wasn't because I was being weak and doubting myself. It was because I was being realistic for the first time in what felt like a long time. The reality was that I was smart, but Sasuke was smarter. I was strong, but he was stronger still. And, above all else, I was still sane.

Just because I had experience with how people's minds who were similar to Sasuke's worked, and I knew what kinds of medications or therapy to give those people- just because I had a doctorate's degree on the wall of my office in Konoha that said I knew what I was doing- those things had nothing to do with the fact that I was powerless to do anything; I couldn't prescribe Sasuke to therapy or medicine and I certainly couldn't survive this by waving my degree in his face.

The reality was that I had failed in what I was supposed to be doing.

Dr. Kura- even though he proved to be a royal jack-ass and a self-assured imbecile- had asked me to escort Sasuke to Burodu Village (which utterly failed), but he had also wanted me to help dissect Sasuke's mind; to tap into his inner-workings in order to delve into the vast psyche that was Uchiha Sasuke. I had failed because I was no closer now than I had ever been. I couldn't even diagnose him with anything more befitting than 'psychopathy'. I only used that term because I could not find one more specific to describe him.

I could not win, in reality, _because_, above all, I was sane. I was powerless against a mind that I could not predict or understand. Even if he claimed that he could not help himself, I still was not sure whether this lead to the diagnosis of psychopathy or sociopathy…or something else entirely. He wasn't a complete psychopath because he _was_ able to control himself- to some extent, at least. He didn't kill everyone he saw; he picked and shoes the right person- the right time, the right place. There was a small bit of choice in the matter. He was psychopathic, but not helplessly so. He knew what he was doing, and he was fine with it; leading to a firm diagnosis on sociopathy instead because the result of everything he did was for some kind of abstract gain or pleasure. But the way he spoke about his mother hinted that he was not sociopathic at all. Schizophrenia was out of the question, and so were some other ideas floating around my mind. He was impossible to understand because he never told me anything.

I brooded to myself quickly, still ignoring my mind and my urges to engulf Sasuke's skin with deep, sultry kisses.

But I was harder to ignore my mind ever since that damned dream, so it bubbled up again, lecturing me in the superior tone I hated. _"Don't let these feelings get to you!"_ It said again, trying desperately to make me obey instead of simply listening. _"Ignore the feelings instead of ignoring your dream or your reality- the reality that you're in danger, Sakura! Danger! Do you not grasp the severity of that word? Is that why you're afraid to say it instead of only thinking it? You. Will. Die."_ It screamed for me to understand. _"The man who you claim to be willing to die for is the one who will _kill_ you!"_

And I knew it was right, but I couldn't find it in myself to care about that because I had already decided not to be afraid of him anymore as soon as I had stepped off that bus into Sound.

I pictured myself with Sasuke standing before me, looming over me the way he loomed over everything. I imagined that the hand and fingers curled around my neck and precariously in my hair were still there; but I imagined Sasuke's left hand that was clasped around my upper arm- hands so large and deadly that his fingers overlapped- was clasped around the helm of a kitchen knife instead, with the cool steel of the blade imbedded deeply into my abdomen. His face would be controlled and semi-blank, but perhaps his brows would be slightly furrowed in concentration as we looked at each other. My vision would become slightly hazy and it would be silent except for the 'pitter patter' of my blood staining the hard, marble floor of our kitchen. A half-empty wine bottle would rest on the marble counter-top of our island in the center of the kitchen and the pans that hung above it would 'tink' against each other every once in a while, just like they did the first time I had sat with him in that kitchen on my second night in Sound- the first night living with him.

Sasuke's glass would still be full and sitting perfectly in the center of the marble countertop in a way that would be so obsessive-compulsively _Sasuke_ that it would hurt. My own glass would be empty because I would have drank it fast, just so I could feel him lean around me to pour me a new one again. But, instead, he would have been unpredictable and would have grabbed the knife from the holster on the wall where all of his favorite utensils were kept. He would slide the cool steel through my skin, my body would warm it fast- he'd be able to feel the warmth all the way at the handle of the blade. It would miss my stomach, slicing through less-vital organs so that my death would be delayed for a few extra minutes- a few extra minutes of life. He would consider it a parting gift. Besides, slicing the stomach would spill the digesting wine that had not had enough time to make it into my blood-stream yet.

I knew how much he hated wasting things, so he would make it as clean as possible. Because I wouldn't be there to clean up the soiled floor when he was finished.

I would look into his devastatingly handsome face and watch his pupils adjust and readjust in the swaying light overhead that had been disturbed in my quick struggle against him. And then I would smile, because I had known it would end that way, with my back against the fancy wooden cupboard doors that he had painted red for me before moving in, because he could probably tell that it was my favorite color.

I would falter in my step as my legs became slightly weaker and my heart kept pumping frantically, trying so hard to keep the body alive. But it would only make more blood to pool around us. Sasuke wouldn't move either; he would let his feet soak in it. His hand curled in my hair and the knife's ensconce in my middle would hold me up from falling and keep our gazes locked when my legs would falter again. The bottom of my foot would sweep against the sharp edges of my empty, shattered wine glass beneath us that I had dropped at some point in my scuffle with him.

But I would still smile, because none of it mattered and I was still obviously willing to die for him- or by his own hand, that wouldn't matter either.

Then, when my vision became too hazy to see him anymore and there would be peaceful black, I would lift my numb arms to splay my fingers upon the side of his lovely face and I would lean up and place a gentle, dry kiss to his flawless lips. He would taste the remnants of my wine on his mouth; it would be slightly bitter, like tea, and have an after-taste of blackberries and grapes. And I would hold my breath in fear that the next one would have been my last, and wanting the last thing I had done before dying to have been kissing Sasuke instead of breathing.

My voice would be weak in my last few seconds, and the heat would be leaving my body with my blood- Sasuke would feel that, too, in the slight re-cooling of the blade in the cold air of the house. The fridge had always made the kitchen chilly- but he would still hear my words, even if they were nothing but cracks or whispers, because he would be straining his ears to listen. He would hear me say "I love yo-"

"_Don't even think about it, Sakura!"_ my mind kicked me out of the picture I had created and forced be back to seeing the alley wall over Sasuke's shoulder instead of the blackness of death. _"Don't you dare let your feelings delude you into becoming who you were yesterday! Don't forget your dream; don't forget promising yourself not to fall back into his trap! Ignore these feelings! They're not real- they're just the effect of Sasuke's manipulating you for the last two weeks. You're just confused-"_

'_But…'_ I thought to it once more, not paying attention to its words and grasping again for any reason to feel again like I had two days ago when I was oblivious to everything. Oh, God, how nice it felt to be clueless and happy, pretending that Sasuke would complete his plan and then all of this would be just a bad memory! How much nicer it felt instead of this fear and indecision and these questions unanswered. '_But ignoring those feelings would make me no better than Sasuke.'_ I reasoned to the voice in my head and, finally, it was silent. It didn't know what to say to that. _'Ignoring how I feel would only make what Dream-Brahm said about Sasuke trying to corrupt me easier for him to do…it's my over-excess of feelings and his _lack_ of emotion that makes it harder for Sasuke to kill the human part of my and replace it with a part of himself.'_ I had firmly grasped an excuse good enough for me to give up. It was good enough because if I kept the human part of me, Sasuke wouldn't be able to corrupt me.

"_Something unspoken, maybe even unknown, that is there- keeping him from slaughtering you in your sleep…"_ Dream-Brahm's words resurfaced, almost too loudly for me to catch them. I understood; at least, I thought I did- I couldn't rule out mistakes- that _this_ was the unspoken, unknown thing between Sasuke and I that kept my alive. It wasn't the total or _entire_ reason, but it was a tiny part of it. Sasuke didn't kill me yet because I actually _had_ emotions whereas he was incapable of _true_ emotions. I had what he was missing, in a way of speaking. Sasuke was using my ability of tangible feelings just like the Kage was using (or so he thought) Sasuke in order to show off his control/power so that he could instill fear in the state he was merging with- effectively protecting himself from a backlash from the mergers by hiring someone like Sasuke. It made sense, I admitted, even though I hated to even _internally_ notice the Kage's aptitude for somewhat intelligence. It made sense because the Kage had invited Sasuke and me (I could tell that the Kage hated having to invite me, but he knew that it would butter Sasuke up to him more. He was so transparent.) to his party in order to celebrate said merging with states. And at that party, the Kage would show Sasuke off to all of the nobles and 'old money' holders. It would be effective, too, because I could already imagine Sasuke there. People wouldn't know whether to fear or idolize him. It was what Sasuke was doing with me- not entirely, but it was a little similar.

Sasuke was playing a dangerous game- a game that could not be won with intelligence or brute-strength alone. Sasuke was dealing with actual _people_ in this plan of his, and in order to deal with people, he would need a sliver of humanity somewhere along the way. That's where I factored in. He could use my human conditions in order to get what he wanted- I didn't know how he was _going _to use it yet, though. Perhaps in order to use it against me somehow or to study it in order to mimick it (I noticed that being around me made him act more normal because he had someone to base his pretending on. I sometimes caught him studying me the same way I studied him, and he seemed to be categorizing and/or making sense of how I acted in certain situations. For example: his light and chummy banter with the Kage in that office on my second day in Sound had been a surprise, but it had seemed to be a mirror to the night before when I had arrived in that room with him after the bus station. He was mirroring with the Kage how to act appropriately in order to get in his good graces because he had studied how I acted with him in that dark, dusty room in the light of the fire). But I still wasn't sure, for this could all be stipulation or me making excuses for myself so I could ignore reality again. I still had to admit, though, that it was very possible- and also very convincing, for I had for a small moment almost convinced myself of all of this being true.

And then, when his plan was over, he would be done with me- but I still couldn't make myself afraid because I knew now that I would die for Sasuke because I cared so much for him. Even though we had never even kissed or intimately touched in any way, I cared for him so much that it was as if we _had_ been passionate.

"Sakura," Sasuke uttered sternly again, and I was forced out of my mind once more by the slight shaking of his strong hand on my upper arm and the bruising pressure of his thumb still on my lips. I found myself still looking at the wall, dizzy from all of my thoughts which had felt like an eternity ago. But reality was just around the corner, telling me that it had really been only a few seconds standing in that position with Sasuke. I still didn't want to look at him because I was sure my eyes would give me away and I didn't want to be suckered in by his angelic features, but he shook me again, a little rough this time in his impatience- and I couldn't stop my gaze from meeting his cold, impenetrable stare. And for the second time that day I felt vulnerable and weak; but for the first time in my life I felt hopelessly and helplessly in love.

He simply studied my face for a moment, just like he had by the sunglass tack, in silence. His eyes moved from mine to span across my high cheekbones, to my forehead where they slid silently down the pale skin on the ridge of my nose, until they stopped when they rested on my swollen lips. He removed his thumb, dragging it across the sensitive skin of my bottom lip, so it would no longer disrupt his gaze. His pupils dilated and I could feel his warm breath fan my cheek as he breathed shallowly from his nose. I licked my lips nervously and I could taste him there still. If it weren't for the dark, slightly musky taste or the throbbing of my lips, it would be as if he had never been so close at all. I licked them again, trying to catch all of it before I was gone, but then noticed Sasuke's gaze become slightly hooded as he watched the small pink muscle slowly dart out, dragging across where he had been only moments before and leaving the smallest amount of moisture on once-dry skin. His adams apple moved slightly as he swallowed, his left hand on my upper arm tightened enough to distract me for only a moment before I was entranced again. His jaw tensed and I didn't miss the quick glance of his eyes down my small neck and across the rest of my body.

"You'll be fine on your own for three minutes, Sakura," he shook his head as if disappointed, and took a step back a respectable three feet away with his hands in his pockets instead of on me. His voice was back to its old ways, as if we were strangers being kind to each other for the sake of business. "I'll be back with a quickness," His voice was deep and unaffected by anything that had happened, as if it were all in my imagination.

Had I imagined it all? I wondered, confused. Had I imagined that there was something there on Sasuke's face that had never really existed? It wouldn't be the first time with him. I didn't think Sasuke would do what just happened, but that could have been my limited experience talking, giving me a different perspective than what was really going on. Perhaps I was just imagining him to be better than he actually was. It was so much more likely that Sasuke was actually just a mentally warped young man who only spoke in euphemisms and didn't talk very much. In fact, that lack of speaking could mistake someone into believing him to be dashing and intelligent when, in fact, he could simply be a vindictive ass who kept masks of apathy up his sleeves like rabbits out of hats.

He walked out of the alley and into the blazing sun, turning the corner and disappearing from sight through the door of a restaurant's bathroom.

Either way, whether I had imagined that look in his eyes or not, I was going to find out what was really going on. I was going to find out how Sasuke was planning on using my emotional ability to his advantage. But, above all that, I was going to find out if what had happened was real or not. Because I was sure I hadn't imagined his dark gaze on my mouth or his hand shaking slightly against my neck. And I couldn't get the idea of sucking on his thumb out of my head.

I tried thinking of other things- anything else actually- but couldn't seem to rid myself of thoughts of pale skin and swear and hungry words whispered into each other's ears.

When he approached again approximately three minutes later, just like he had said, I couldn't stop myself from jumping, startled by his deep voice beside me.

"You're never gonna' guess what happened in there." He laughed.


	4. IV: The Bad Seed

I do not own Naruto.

Natural Born Killers Part IV

The Bad Seed

* * *

_Feel my  
Thoughts_

_And my_  
_Emotions_

* * *

"You're never gonna' guess what happened in there." Sasuke laughed, laying out the bait.

"Okay, I'll bite. What happened in there?" I tried my best to sound uninterested, but the elation on his face told me that it must have been something spectacular. I gave him an uncouth stare, shifting my hip to rest upon the slimy metal of the alley's dumpster when he reappeared into the shadow of the building next to me.

He walked towards me and poked my forehead, a gesture that seemed affectionate from his past. "Ta-da!" he sang, turning back around next to me and throwing his arms towards the alley's opening. I looked for what he was referring to in the direction, but there was nothing there. He seemed disappointed for a minute and when nothing happened he flung his arms towards the alley's opening again. "Ta-daaaa!" he said louder, but without singing this time; as if he were only doing it sarcastically to get someone's attention.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," came a female's high-toned voice from the street, walking toward us. Her silhouette, bathed in the hot sun, fled from the light as she entered the stone walls to join us.

I gave Sasuke a vexed glance, wondering how this had anything to do with the men's restroom. As if on cue, Sasuke began his flighty explanation. "There I was standing in the middle of the bathroom when- BAM!" he yelled, startling me with his crazed movements of his hands as he told the story. "I kicked open the stall of the guy I followed in there-"

"You followed someone?" I crossed my arms, urging myself to stay patient until the end of his tale.

"Yeah- the guy we were trailing earlier went into the bathroom so I followed..." he offered the words on a silver platter. "I'm not surprised you didn't notice. You were distracted when it happened." He wagged his dark brows, insinuating inappropriately back to my mishap as we were crouching so closely behind the small dumpster. I tried not to blush at the memory of what it was that had distracted me. But he didn't pay it any mind, continuing as if he had never stopped his story at all: "And there she was." He ended and I gave him a lost expression. He rolled his steely eyes. His story didn't inform me of anything other than the basics; he always seemed to leave out the important details.

"I wasn't expecting anyone else to be in there as well. Especially not following the same guy I was," the woman laughed (the way she said _I_ made her seem like the kind of woman who liked to talk about herself a lot), taking the initiative to walk closer. She stopped next to Sasuke, her body turned slightly toward his. I didn't like her body language, but tried not to voice it or I would probably regret it later on.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked finally, giving up on playing the role of 'Patient Patty'.

They both laughed, turning toward each other at the same time and sharing amused glances. If they were purposely trying to make me feel like there was something vital that I was missing out on, they were succeeding.

My question had been meant for Sasuke, but the woman spoke up. "Sasuke was going to kill the guy, but he opened the stall and found me instead- drowning the guy in the toilet." She answered. I nodded, understanding fine and grimacing at her tone. She was nowhere near the way Sasuke was able to speak. When Sasuke told a story, the words seemed to leak from his lips as if they were divinely practiced and ready; but she had a way of speaking that was slightly clumsy, like she never knew which words to put together so she just fumbled until what she was trying to say made somewhat sense. "So, naturally, we threw around a couple pleasantries - and by pleasantries, I mean we almost killed each other – until we came to an arrangement." Karin joked about the killing part (not knowing Sasuke personally or the fact that Sasuke probably would have tried to kill her, given the right opportunity), letting out a light, jingling laugh that seemed a little contrived to Sakura's ears.

"What kind of arrangement?" I interrogated off-handedly. I hated the way I seemed to always be asking the questions, only receiving answers that barely skimmed informational.

Sasuke finally spoke up again and I was glad to hear his deep voice in juxtapose to the woman's keening one. "Karin will help us get the information we need about Daisuke Haru's estate in return for a favor from me," He said simply to me, gesturing to the woman who I guessed was Karin. Her fiery red hair was long and combed on one side with the other side messy and tangled. Her amber eyes matched her tresses and she had the annoying habit of pushing up her glasses with her middle finger whenever they fell slightly down the ridge of her nose. As if on cue, she pushed them up again while she studied me, unintentionally flipping me the bird.

I asked what the favor would be but the Uchiha ignored my question with an excuse of how it had nothing to do with me so I shouldn't worry my "pretty little head."

"So you made me come here to help you and now you're forcing this woman to do your dirty work as well?" the words left my mouth border-lining on a snarl.

"Forcing?" Sasuke gushed, biting down a chuckle and cooing out the words, "How presumptuous."

Karin interrupted our conversation again and I surveyed her with a narrowed scowl that probably didn't look very attractive. She was standing even closer to Sasuke now, ebbing nearer and nearer to him during our talk and still turning her body in his direction. "Sasuke-kun was going to ask the guy we followed about where to find the floor-plans of Daisuke's house. But, since he didn't get his chance, I've offered to guide him to the place where we can steal them before tonight," the makebate woman smiled sickly sweet at me and I wondered how many vibes of 'not welcome' I would have to throw at her before she finally realized. The purring of her voice when she added the suffix onto his name did nothing but aid my dislike of her. I had never had an urge or desire to kill before but this woman was fast approaching the top of my list if I were ever to go 'serial killer mode.'

"It's absurd..." Sasuke intoned, talking about the agreement between him and Karin and leaning against the wall between the two of us. He looked at me like he knew how I felt about the red haired woman. And, of course, he found it somehow entertaining. He always found my discomfort entertaining for some reason. "But I think we can make it work," He mused, itching his neck.

Sasuke was different around Karin, I noticed with horror. I couldn't put my finger on it but it was there all the same, unsettling my stomach. It was as if he took a swim somewhere and forgot to dry off completely. His relaxed posture against the wall was a little too tight to be considered normal. It certainly wasn't the same way he held himself while around me. Perhaps because I was no threat to him in any way, but Karin had somehow stumbled into his 'master plan' and deterred it. He seemed unsettled as well and I guessed it was because this had happened so unexpectedly. He didn't like surprises and now he would have to change his plan a little bit since Karin had killed one of his pawns only minutes ago.

I tried to read what he was thinking, but his face was as impassive as ever. I knew that he hadn't planned for this to happen, but I wondered all the same whether or not he was really as fine with this as he acted. He seemed jovial enough, but there was a slight tension underneath his skin. Now the Uchiha would have to factor Karin into the situation, which would probably change a lot of things until she was out of the picture. I had no doubt that he wouldn't keep her around long; especially since her only purpose was her knowledge of Daisuke (and I knew that Sasuke probably didn't plan on keeping his word. He would most likely kill Karin before he had to waste his time doing favors for her). And I didn't like not knowing what the favor was; especially if Sasuke was going to do it alone (don't get me wrong; I hated going on these little 'missions' with him. But I would rather be around while he was mischievous than not around. Because if I was there, it meant that what he was doing was something other than killing me). I didn't trust her in the slightest, not to mention my complete lack of trust in Sasuke himself.

"Karin, you will lead us to the place where you said the floor-plans were, and then we will part ways until tomorrow night after the Kage's celebration." He ordered like he usually did with people, but Karin didn't seem to mind. "We'll discuss your favor after that."

"How do you know we can trust her?" I blurted out before I knew what I was thinking, causing both of them to turn and look at me. Karin glared at my direction when Sasuke wasn't looking. The raven haired man pushed off of the wall and reached me to slug his arm over my shoulder. Karin didn't seem to like this and that fact gave me a slight bit of happiness. "I mean..." I trailed, trying to think about it before I said anymore. Sasuke waited patiently, but Karin tapped her foot loudly on the cobblestones. "How do you even know where the floor-plans are in the first place?" I asked her directly and she crossed her arms, huffing and looking off towards the other direction. "Only people who work for Daisuke would know where they are. Obviously, if we're looking for them that means that you know what Sasuke and I are up to." I stressed the 'Sasuke and I' to let her know that she was not in the same category with him. _I_ was the only one working with him; she was just a pawn, right? "And, if that is the case, why are you helping us dispose of Daisuke so easily? All you asked for was a favor, which doesn't seem like adequate payment to me," I saw Sasuke's smirk from the corner of my eye as he leaned in to make sure he heard me correctly. He seemed slightly impressed with my deductions. "Plus the fact that you're still alive puts me on edge- because if this favor that Sasuke is doing for you in return was anything substantial (and considering the large favor you are doing for us, it _should_ be substantial) then Sasuke would have killed you instead of taking you up on your offer of helping us. He wouldn't waste time playing this little game." I took a deep breath, noting Karin's rigid stance a few feet in front of us.

"Believe it or not," Sasuke whispered in my ear, his breath sending stray strands of my hair to tickly my skin. I could still hear the smirk in his words. "Karin wants Daisuke dead as well." He retracted his arm from my shoulder and stiffly shrugged. "The reason she knows where the floor plans are is because she worked for Matori Setaru," he stated and the name sent a shiver down my spine. The way Karin stayed calm when Sasuke mentioned Matori's name suggested that she had no idea that it was _Sasuke_ who had killed her former boss in that restaurant. I remembered the Uchiha telling me about it on my first night in Sound. "Setaru was an enemy of the Kage," he went on. "But he was also an enemy of Daisuke as well. So, it's safe to say that Daisuke, Setaru and the Kage all wanted each other dead."

He let me put two and two together by myself:  
1) Sasuke had killed Matori (who was the Kage's enemy) at that restaurant; this was why the Kage had hired Sasuke in the first place.  
2) If Karin worked for Matori and knew where the floor plans were, that would only mean that Matori himself (before his death) was after Daisuke, too. That must have been why the Kage was so glad when Sasuke killed him. And now the Kage wanted Sasuke to kill Daisuke and get rid of the loose ends. Without Matori or Daisuke around, the Kage would be undisputed by anybody and that would make it a safe bet that the Kage would be elected for another term as mayor over Sound. The Kage didn't want anyone around who knew about his back-alley dealings and corruption. So he wanted anybody who could rat him out to be 'dealt with.' All the Kage wanted was to remain as governor.

Sasuke nodded when he saw it all click together in my head.

None of them had any idea.

The Kage was so focused and narrow-minded on his goal of remaining mayor that he didn't think there was any bigger picture. The Kage wasn't expecting anything bigger than his own little plan of killing Daisuke and Matori before the fall elections.

And Karin didn't have a clue as to what she was getting herself into. All she seemed to know was that we needed something that she had and Sasuke was able to do something for her in return. Karin was becoming part of something much larger than herself, me, or even the Kage. Nobody except me and Brahm knew just how broad Sasuke's plan seemed to stretch- and it included all of us in it. (Plus, Brahm seemed to know more than I did, but he wasn't inclined to share his knowledge with me. This slightly irked me.)

Just how much had the Uchiha taken into account? How long had he been planning this? And how much more intertwined and complicated did it get after this part of his plan was over?

"Besides," Sasuke's voice was quiet but it still startled me out of my thoughts. "Karin has everything we need," he gestured to Karin, making an hourglass figure with his hands and looking the red haired woman up and down in approval. He ended his awkward perusal with a shrug. "For now, at least." A malicious smirk formed on his lips and I idly wondered when he would end up killing the woman with the fiery red hair.

* * *

I was relieved that it didn't take long before Sasuke dismissed Karin. The red headed woman left shortly after leading us to an old library, dragging us to the back entrance of the basement, breaking the door's lock and leading Sasuke into the dusty file room (Karin had said something about it being better for me to stand watch outside). When they came out together Sasuke had tucked a folded parchment into his pocket and bid adieu to Karin.

"I still don't understand why you didn't kill her when you had the chance," I grumbled as he led me to a strange street. The sun was going down and it seemed as if the night would never end. Sasuke just seemed to be happy that he had attained the floor-plans before sun-down.

"That would be bad for business," he said and quickly grabbed me, pushing me into the back seat of a parked car. "You know where to go." He relaxed onto the familiar leather cushions, speaking to Brahm and the driver in the front seats. The car started and took off with ease, slowly creeping to whatever new destination the Uchiha had in mind this time. He pulled the folded parchment from his pocket as I was still fuming in the corner of my own seat.

"Where are we going _this_ time?" I yawned after a while when we were stopped at a red light, I watched as the bulb turned green and the car took motion upon the street again.

"To kill Daisuke."

"Already?" I flung my arms in surprise, almost knocking the paper from the Uchiha's hand. He gave me a level look and straightened the paper from its crumbled and crooked position.

"You knew this was coming, Sakura," he warned/lectured gently and I tried to ignore how my stomach fluttered whenever he said my name like that. Brahm seemed to be trying his best to read the newspaper in the passenger seat in front of me, but there was something written there that made him unhappy.

"I thought I'd have more time," I sighed, playing with the window button- rolling it up then down and continuing over and over until the Uchiha became annoyed with the noise and grasped my hand to stop me. He let go almost immediately.

"You say it as if you're sure you are going to die tonight." He seemed to like the idea of my death when he spoke about it. He smiled distantly to himself.

"It doesn't matter now, anyway." I huffed and could have sworn I caught Brahm watching me religiously in the rear-view mirror from the corner of my eye.

* * *

Sasuke had Brahm and the driver park a few streets over from Daisuke's estate, but I could see the large building towering over everything else in the vicinity. The moon was full. I glared at it shortly before following the Uchiha's long strides. He so easily blended into the dark that I was sure I would get lost from him all too easily if I wasn't paying close enough attention.

"This way," I heard his voice in the pitch-blackness as large clouds covered the moon, throwing everything around us into darkness. The electricity had gone out again, including the street-lights, and I cursed Sounds horrible timing in things like this (if the Kage really wanted to be re-elected that badly, he should have fixed the problems with the city's electricity shortages). I tried to find his voice, stumbling forward to follow him and tripping a few times over something until he became fed up with my slowness. I didn't know how he found me (probably from all of the noise I was making every time I fell) but he sighed gently through his nose and grabbed my hand in the darkness. He put it to his shirt for me to clench onto and I didn't wait another second before accepting his offer. I was sure the fabric would tear with how tightly I was grasping his sleeve.

"How do you plan on getting inside?" I grumbled, using the darkness as an excuse to strangle his arm and flush my body against his to let his heat accost my right side. He didn't tell me to get off so I took it as him not caring (either that or he was too lazy to start a fuss over such a little thing). It was hard to stop myself from breathing his smell in deeply but I somehow resisted, not wanting to get caught and ruin the moment I had created in my befuddled little mind.

"There is an old rain gutter a few minutes' walk from the grounds of the estate. It was used in the 1920s for smuggling alcohol. And it just so happens to be connected by a chamber to the lower lever of the house…I wouldn't be surprised if Daisuke didn't even know it was there," his voice was strangely calm in comparison to my own trembling breaths. "It was all explained in the floor-plans."

"You only looked at them for a few seconds in the car." I dead-panned, not believing that he had memorized them already, and guessed that the shifting sound of his fabric was his head turning towards me.

"A few seconds is all I need, Sakura," he pointed out, his lips brushing my hair and I felt his warm fingertip prod me in the temple playfully. Then he laughed very loudly as someone else came down the dark road between the buildings, walking toward us slowly with a flashlight and a thick jacket. Sasuke squinted his eyes to try and see through the bright light that the man was pointing towards our direction.

"Who's down here?" the stranger's voice bellowed, echoing against the wet stones.

"It seems that the police have already begun their patrols." Sasuke mumbled to me, removing his arm from my tightening hug and placing his hand in mine instead. The instant heat from his skin ran up to my chest, settling there and attacking my heart.

"Who's down there?" the man called again, more loudly this time, as we came closer and closer to his silhouette where the street ended and merged with an intersection. There was no one around, not even one car on the road ahead. The wind picked up, chilling me and Sasuke fastened the pace. Out feet clicked upon the hard ground loudly and the hesitant officer fingered the handle of his gun cautiously, waiting for what he feared.

"It's just me, Juugo." Sasuke spoke smoothly, like a trickle of water from a young river, once he recognized the man. The officer, Juugo, sighed in relief and lowered his hand from the weapon, walking toward us and giving us some more light to see by. His large frame towered over us in what would seem menacingly, but his eyes were gentle when they came into my sight. Sasuke let go of my hand immediately when he no longer needed to guide me through the darkness. "I hope you have good news." There was a slight warning in the Uchiha's tone but it was different from when he always warned me. It was more lenient, as if he didn't really mean it while speaking to Juugo.

The large man, in return, raised an orange brow that matched his unusual hair (though it would only be hypocritical for me to make fun of someone else's hair color). "I do," he offered and the two men watched a crow soar above us. I felt ignored again, just like in Sasuke's conversation with Karin earlier.

"Which room is he staying in?" Sasuke asked shortly.

"The master suite on the west wing. The security guards rotate their shifts at midnight and Daisuke should be asleep by eleven," Juugo gave only the facts and nothing else.

"Did you do as I asked?" Sasuke questioned, lowering his voice as footsteps were heard far off. Juugo turned off his light so we wouldn't attract attention and darkness swarmed once more. I could no longer make them out in the blackness, only their words.

"Yes. It should be wearing off soon, though. It was a low dose and he had his dinner earlier than usual today," The orange-haired man's deep retort cut through the stillness of the air.

"Good." Sasuke supplied and I thought I heard the sound of them shaking hands and a light noise of metal rubbing against leather (I guessed it was Juugo giving something to Sasuke) before Juugo's heavy footsteps made their way past me and continued walking in the direction that Sasuke and I had come from. "Sakura," Sasuke called quietly, grabbing me once again and leading me into the intersecting streets ahead.

"What were you guys talking about?" I was sure I didn't need to ask because he must have known that I would, as usual.

"Juugo did me a favor-"

"You seem to be doing and getting a lot of favors lately." I cut out tersely.

Sasuke continued, overstepping my intolerant attitude. "I had him slip some Ambien into Daisuke's dinner to make things a little easier on us. It will be faster to kill him if he is fast asleep."

"You're the devil."

"And you're the devil's advocate." He rationalized and there was a hard screeching sound as he bent toward the ground and lifted up a heavy metal crate from the bitumen. "Get in." he pointed to the gaping hole in the filthy ground. The musky stench wafted up from it, settling in my nose. I shook my head sternly.

"I'm not going in there. It smells like death," I scrunched my nose and he rolled his eyes.

"Sakura," he sighed, sauntering closer to me like a predator watching its prey. "I guess you don't have to if you don't want to." He reluctantly agreed, which I felt weird about. He was up to something.

"Thank you?" I tried to say but it turned into a question.

"Hn," was his only answer as he threw his arm around me and leaned on my smaller form for balance, both of us staring at the large hole in the ground. The minutes flew by and he was silent. I didn't want to be the first one to speak. "You know, Sakura," he started again, sounding deep in thought and rubbing his chin, watching a crow flying overhead again. It squawked loudly in the night. "You can tell me if you're scared. You don't need to pretend to be brave just to save face." He insulted, pretending to be sincere.

We were staring at the hole again. I was wondering what to do next while Sasuke fiddled with something that was strapped to his hip; the thing that Juugo gave to him. I couldn't make out what it was in the dark but it sounded slightly heavy and kept making a clicking noise as the Uchiha fiddled with the gadget.

"If I jump down there, it means that there's no going back," I tried to explain to him but his face didn't hold 'understanding' or 'pitiful' the way I had hoped it would. "If I jump down there, I'll have no other choice than to continue on in this fucked up little thing you have going on. And I don't want to end up somehow accidentally killing myself tonight." He still didn't seem to buy into or care about any of it and I crossed my arms in resignation, refusing to let him see how much my hands were shaking.

"If you need help in killing yourself," he took a step behind me, placing his hands on my shoulders lightly, smoothing over my skin. I was so carried away in wondering why he was acting so strange that I almost didn't hear his next words. "I'd be happy to oblige." I glared at the stinky hole since his face was out of sight. He thought back to my words for a moment. "Since you're too scared to choose what to do- I'll help you make the decision." Came his determined reply as his grip tightened and he picked me up, hoisting me over his shoulder. I flailed my legs as much as I could to try and dislodge myself form him but my efforts were met with a sharp slap on my rear end. I turned to yell at him but he threw me off of himself. I braced myself for my inevitable impact with the concrete below but was met with thick water instead, engulfing me in its cold body.

I fought my way to the surface, sputtering and spitting out the disdainful liquid and the smell overwhelmed me, bile rising to my throat before swallowing it back down. I gazed up through the hole's opening above me to see nothing other than Sasuke's prideful smirk looking back.

He jumped down into the water, landing beside me. His taller form had no trouble standing in the rushing liquid. "You're such a bastard!" I yelled, splashing water in every direction I could. He interrupted my tantrum with a hand over my mouth and a straight face looking into mine.

"There are guards stationed around the entire premises. If you don't want to die, you will do as I say and be quiet." He let go and lifted himself out of the water and onto the cement platform of the gutter. It was colder now that we were underground and covered in the freezing liquid.

"You didn't have to throw me in a sewer!" I whispered as harshly as I could without actually being loud, taking his offered hand and letting him lift me out as well.

"Relax. It's only water. The smell is coming from down the corridors; probably some dead rats or something," he took off in a random direction and I hoped he knew where he was going; because I surely didn't know anything yet.

* * *

The rest was only darkness until the two silhouettes, hidden in the lofty shadows of the night, stood their ground under an opening that would lead to fresh air and- finally, Sakura thought- above ground. She smiled goofily at the thought of no longer being in the disgusting sewer. What disturbed her most was that she had grown used to the smell and could barely make it out anymore.

The metal grated as Sasuke unhinged the barred, heavy gutter door and motioned for Sakura to come closer before easily lifting her again unexpectedly and pushing her through the hole above him, then lifting himself lithely out. She surveyed their surroundings as Sasuke replaced the gutter's grimy bars. The walls were much cleaner than the alleyways that Sasuke seemed to have taken a liking to lately and the floor was tiled linoleum instead of the usual cobblestone walkways that she had become so accustomed to.

"Where do you think we are," the roseate asked the Uchiha, taking in deep breaths and attempting to calm the adrenaline in her system. She hoped Sasuke wouldn't see her pulse moving frantically in her neck because she was sure it was pounding strongly enough to show through the skin.

He didn't take any time to think about it, already knowing the answer offhand. "This is where the alcohol used to be stored after it was smuggled," he said, motioning for her to look to the other side of the room at a worn, wooden stand holding broken glass bottles- cobwebs and dust now replaced what seemed to have once been luxurious yellow paint. "If we go through this hall we should be able to find some kind of hidden door," he walked in the direction he was referring to and she had no choice other than to follow him.

Her clothes were sticking to her like another skin and becoming itchy from the drying water. She tried wringing her shirt between her fists to get rid of the excess liquid stationed in the fabric quicker, distracted enough by her actions that she did not notice Sasuke stopping at a dead end in front of her until she toppled into him. He threw her a glance over his shoulder, raised his eyebrows, and then continued to stare at the wall in concentration.

"Did we go the wrong way?" She intoned, slightly unsure. It was hard to believe that Sasuke would go the wrong way on accident. He never made accidents.

"No," he said simply. "This is the hidden door. We just have to find out how to open it…" he trailed in unsaid musings, rubbing the back of his skull and huffing. He mumbled to himself repeatedly, trying different things and feeling across the walls for some kind of secret lever that would open it.

"Maybe it's only accessible from inside the house," she offered when he had no luck after a few minutes. He grumbled some more, puffing out a solid breath to calm himself.

"It has to be somewhere." He took a step back to stare at it again, hands in his pockets and stance becoming lazy.

Sakura, as well, leaned herself tiredly and impatiently against the wall, slinging all of her weight onto the cool brick structure to wait for what she hoped wouldn't take forever to accomplish. A loud clicking noise sounded from the wall where she was leaning against and the hidden door that Sasuke was staring at slowly gaped open, dust and other debris falling from the opening that probably hadn't been used in around nine decades.

The Uchiha turned around, brows furrowed in confusion. "What did you do?" it sounded like an accusation, but she was more concerned with the light coming from the opening than with the dark-haired man's uptight attitude.

"I put pressure against the wall," she explained, moving from where she was leaning to search what she had triggered. There was a small part of the brick that seemed to have eroded away from age but, upon closer inspection of the Uchiha, a fissure around the brick became noticeable where it could be used as a push mechanism.

He turned back to the Haruno and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her with barely contained appraisal. "Have I ever told you that you're a fucking genius?" he asked and stepped through the opening into a lavishly adorned room that must have been a guest room of Daisuke's house.

"No. You haven't." She ventured to answer and hoped that it would spark some light in the Uchiha's heat to say it to her more often. She smiled to herself widely at his compliment.

"Don't get too cocky. We still have a lot to do." He warned, fidgeting with the door again until he found a way to close it. It let out a steaming sound as it shut securely back into the wall. There was no indication that there was ever a door there in the first place. "We have to find his room. The gutter we took brought us to the west wing where Daisuke is, but there are countless rooms that were unnumbered in the floor-plans so we're going to have to go on instinct from here on out. We have to find the main suite in this area of the building."

"Which level are we on?" she asked and noticed him fiddling again with whatever was strapped to his side earlier that Juugo had given him.

"Second. The incline we went up in the sewer was leading us here. The main suite is most likely the room on the fourth floor at the end of the hall where the west balcony attached. We'll go there…" he said, walking away from her and pausing until she realized that she was supposed to follow. "And, Sakura," he stopped again, turning around and leaning until his face was only inches from hers. "Make sure nobody sees you. So, stay by me." He flicked her forehead in what she hoped was affectionate instead of domineering, and then they left the room, making sure to remain as silent as the grave, taking the stairs at the end of the long hallway in front of a pair of French doors that lead to a terrace overlooking the exquisite gardens.

"Sasuke?" Sakura whispered and swallowed down her heart as it leapt to her throat, realizing that he was no longer anywhere in sight. No answer came. "S-sasuke?" she dried a little louder. Still no answer. She gripped her shirt, stretching it in her fists, as she forced her feet up the stairs. Each step was a divine effort to keep herself from running back to the hidden door and finding Brahm to take her home. The only think keeping her from doing just that was the fact that she knew she had no chance of getting out of that gutter on her own. Sasuke would probably leave her there to die if she tried it anyway, just to teach her a lesson.

"Hmph!" she found herself dragged up the last remaining stairs and around a sharp corner by a hand that had darted out of the darkness to grab her, the hand muffling the beginning of a scream before it could make its way from her throat.

"I told you to stay by me," Sasuke's voice sounded and the hand left her, her heart calming when she found that it was him until she looked to the ground to find what must have been the reason for his sudden disappearance. The body of one guard lay strangely, his upper half resting against the wall. His eyes were still open widely and jaw slackened, red liquid flowing from an injury somewhere hidden by his light brown hair. "Don't pay any attention to that." Sasuke said, steering her more down the hall and into a room, leaving the door slightly cracked to listen for anyone who might come their direction. "Juugo said that the guards will rotate stations at midnight, so we have a little while until anyone finds the body." Sasuke clicked off the light, letting the moon guide him in what little amount of guidance it gave through the open window on the other side of the room. He started making his way to the other door by the window. Sakura followed slowly.

She trembled, her terror mounting with every step she took. She had never seen a more devastating sight, never witnessed such utter destruction, until Sasuke came into her life. Was this what the Uchiha had turned her life into, a battlefield? Was this how it was going to be when he finally killed her? She began to panic, the beautiful picture of Sasuke and her in the kitchen, knife in her abdomen, suddenly shattered.

"Keep your mind on the task ahead," Sasuke warned, cutting off any attempts of denial she might have had on the matter of her fate; the words dying, unspoken on her tongue were followed by the jarring thump of oncoming footsteps.

Sasuke ran silently as a wolf back to the door he had left slightly cracked and hid himself in the shadows, quite effectively. She tried to spot him in the darkness from where she stood, gaping in fascination at how he seemed to always know what to do without even thinking, but she couldn't see him until he stepped out slowly; so slow that she wasn't sure if he were moving at all or if it were the light from the hallway playing tricks on her eyes. But he did nothing other than peek out into the hallway shortly then resurfaced into the room.

"Is it a guard?" she asked and he could tell her distaste for the situation from the way the words came. He shook his head. "Then who is it?"

"That guy from the Kage's office," He said in answer, as if it was all there was to it. He threw a glance her way, his look satirical, until his rough hand clasped onto her upper arm and pulled her along into the shadows. It seemed like all she did lately was get dragged around by the man and stand around listening to his secretive conversations with other people, hoping that it would all make sense soon. The footsteps were fast approaching, coming their way without waver.

"Gondo?" she gasped, prepared not to believe him but the anger on his face showed its truth. "How did he find us?" she was glad the shadows hid her frightened expression. She didn't want him lecturing her on her softness anymore or threatening to stab her with more pens.

His brows rose and wagged at her in the slight light leaking in through the cracked door. "I'll ask him," he offered just before plunging through the open door. She swore she heard a scuffle outside instead of Sasuke asking any questions at all. He was at it again. He came back in shortly after it was quiet again, the sound of him dragging something heavy following him into the darkness. The door creaked shut and the light flickered on with a 'click' as Sasuke reached for the gun (probably the same one Gondo had pointed in our faces at the Kage's office; she had no doubt that Sasuke took it from the body) and checked the ammunition. When he seemed satisfied he strapped it in his jeans and pulled out another gun that had been stashed there for Kami only knew what reasons (probably what he had gotten form Juugo in the alley). "Here." He placed the weapon in her hands, turning back to Gondo's body and dragging him into a nearby closet with wicker doors. When Gondo was stuffed into the small enclosure to his liking, his neck grotesquely crooked, Sasuke shut the door and gave Sakura a wonton thumbs-up and a cheeky smile that unsettled her stomach. She immediately remembered Sasuke stating quite plainly (while they left the Kage's office the other day) that he was going to kill Gondo. At least _something_ was going right so far, she thought ironically to herself, scoffing at the memory.

"What's this for?" the Haruno asked, though she was sure she understood well. She held up the offending weapon with her thumb and fore-finger while giving the Uchiha an unsure glance between the two a few times.

"You're going to use it, Hun." He stated. "What would you do if you didn't have one; I can't have you running around _chewing_ on people in desperate self-defense, now, can I? That would only make my job harder and I don't have time to take care of you right now." He cocked the metal device, making a loud clacking noise and wagging at her with those offending brows again.

"I've never used a gun before," she whispered, making it sound like a question, as he adjusted a silencer onto the end of her gun's barrel. "I don't think I'm entirely comfortable with this situation..."

He cut her a sardonic look, the single shrug of his shoulder that rose in answer to the question already saying more than what could be voiced out loud. "It's simple, Sakura," he handed the gun back to her and spoke slowly, calmly. "You aim it at a bad guy and pull the trigger." She reached out to take the weapon, but he pulled it back at the last second and studied her with his calculating gaze. "I can trust you with this, right?" he shook the gun in his hand for emphasis, cocking a one-sided smirk.

"Why wouldn't you be able to?" she tilted her head, confused, and his face smoothed out in relaxation. Whatever had been plaguing him was gone, replaced with some kind of warped amusement.

"It would be all too easy for you to aim this gun at me instead. This little thing pointed at my head could end my life...and it could give you back yours," he smirked again, probably knowing that she would never even think of doing such a thing. He handed it to the woman anyways, turning the safety off and giving her a not too serious warning of being careful with it. The weight of it in her hands was made worse when he began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" her voice cracked twice, panicking when she saw his retreating back.

"I'm going to look for Daisuke. You are, too." He only turned slightly to her to answer, not enough for him to be able to see her over his back though. This made her feel a little weird; he was so chummy and flirty (if you could use Sasuke and that word in the same sentence. She guessed that "open" would work better when describing his recent change of behavior) all day and now he was suddenly closed off and back to normal. She blamed his flighty, egocentric, intolerant mind. "Don't be so needy. It's a turn off." He joked, but it wasn't the time for laughing.

"I can't do this on my own!" Sakura cried out and he had to hush her and calm her down before she attracted unwanted attention. Her words reminded her of her same plea in the alleyway only hours before when Sasuke tried leaving to go to the restroom.

"Of course you can," he reassured in a rare soothing tone, trying to make her believe him. She wasn't buying what he was selling for one minute. But that still didn't stop him from leaving anyway. She let out a few shaky breaths, alone in the darkness of the room, and tried calming herself.

"Freaking out isn't going to help you, Sakura," she said to herself, trying to help ease her own nerves. "It will only make things words than they are now." Her own self-reassurances weren't working because she knew that nothing could be worse than they were at that moment. "And Daisuke is sleeping, so it shouldn't be that hard, right?" she asked no one in particular. "All you have to do is make sure nobody sees you, especially the guards…." She played around with the gun for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to aim it and accidentally shooting a stray bullet into an overly stuffed chair in the corner and she thanked whoever was watching over her in heaven that Sasuke had put a silencer on the metal contraption. The small hole in the chair stared at her like a dark, never-ending eye, the stuffing leaking form it and falling like feathers to the thick carpet of the floor. "Oh, God, Sasuke is going to end up killing me!" she cried, yanking on her pink hair and falling to the floor to sulk, crossing her arm around herself like a frightened child and glaring at the gun in her hand. "Stupid Uchiha bastard."

What did the raven-haired man expect her to do once she found Daisuke, anyway, huh? It wasn't as if she was going to kill him. Was she supposed to go and find Sasuke and tell him where the suite was as soon as she found it? Was she supposed to wait in there for him?

She shook her head frantically, her hair flying crazily around her face.

She was sure that he would find Daisuke's room with no problem. In fact, she was sure that he knew where it was already and that he was headed there at that very moment. He was only doing this to her for his own morbid enjoyment. She made a face at the picture of Sasuke in her head. He was smirking again.

"Argh!" she rampaged through the room, trying to keep quiet but her anger was overriding Sasuke's order of staying inconspicuous, and went out the door that the Uchiha had left through only minutes before. "I'm wasting time sitting around here and feeling sorry for myself. I have to find Daisuke before the guards change shifts at midnight." She whispered. She usually didn't talk to herself but she supposed that this was a special occasion that made it acceptable.

She wondered where Sasuke was at that very moment while she was alone, running through dark corridors with a loaded gun and talking to herself.

* * *

The Uchiha sat comfortable on a small, silk furbished love-seat. He sipped lightly on his glass, pouring a little more of the harsh liquid to make waiting a little more enjoyable. So far, the Haruno woman was taking forever. Perhaps he should have given her at least some idea of which direction to go, he wondered but changed his mind quickly before he found himself actually feeling sorry for the woman. This way was much more enjoyable. He hoped she found her way to the room before the guards changed stations or she would definitely be caught. He could continue to sit there and sip on Daisuke's scotch, or he could go find her before she got herself killed. Decisions, decisions.

He placed the drink back on the desk near him and watched the sleeping man in the bed ten feet away. The Uchiha was getting impatient waiting for the pink-haired woman to show up. It would be easier to simply kill Daisuke now and go find her then leave- but he liked what he had planned much better. He hoped she would come soon; he needed something more entertaining than watching Daisuke sleep. And being in silence was never good for the Uchiha. Who knew what kind of demons lurked around him in the dead of night, waiting for him to let his guard down so they could interrupt him-

"You're seriously letting her run around here on her own? That's harsh, even for _you_." A vaguely familiar female voice sounded and he would have flinched if he were not used to it by now. "She's probably wondering where you are right now."

"I'm not going to entertain that question with an answer; considering I know you're only a figment of my imagination created by my conscience in the form of something familiar and lost." He picked the glass back up, swallowing the rest of the contents. He needed some more alcohol if he was going to deal with his mind's tricks again. He was thankful for the Ambien coursing through Daisuke's bloodstream, keeping him from waking. Besides, Sakura would find him soon. It was all part of the plan.

"Pish-posh," the woman waved her hand toward him childishly like she used to and he smiled at some distant memory, the alcohol warming his skin. "I'm your mother, silly."

"If only that were true," he poured more.

"I can hear her footsteps coming this way. She was quicker getting here than expected." Mother said from the closet, playing with some shirt's collar before sighing for-longingly.

"Hn." He replied, trying not to get his hoped up. There was no use in talking to what wasn't real.

"I hope she doesn't end up running into the guard standing outside that door-"

Right after the figment spoke those words, a loud sound came from the hallway where Sakura's footsteps had been headed only moments before. He guessed she had _literally_ ended up running into the guard. He sipped on his drink a little more, waiting to see what would happen until the door ended up opening and two shadowed bodies fell into the bathroom attached to the room Daisuke and the Uchiha were in, wrestling for dominance. The larger body of the guard yelped and lifted form the smaller body. Sasuke could only make out a little in the darkness but the man lifted his hand to his mouth then looked at his fingers, probably checking for blood, then sprang at the Haruno woman again, infuriated. "You little bitch!"

Sakura's feint voice tried to apologize- of course, only _Sakura_ would apologize for hurting the guy who was attacking her—but the man cut her short with a hard and sharp smack across the face to cure her of her insolence. She gasped as the force of the stronger opponent's lash threw her back. She landed on the linoleum of the bathroom's floor, the gun clattering away under the cabinet of the sink. She seemed too dazed by the hit to notice, lying on her back with her light, blush-colored hair spanning across the floor and a slight trickle of blood falling from her nose. Before she could find her way back to full capacity then man was on her again, hands to throat. The Uchiha was sure it was almost over. The woman's life was leaving slowly, ebbing away with the man's stronger ability. She choked for air and Sasuke was sure that it was the end of the road. But she was irritatingly stubborn, clinging to life and feeling through the darkness for the gun. Sasuke sipped his drink again.

Yes, a lot more entertaining than watching Daisuke sleep, he agreed to himself.

The roseate psychologist grabbed the heaviest thing she could find within her grasp and bashed it over the man's head, much to the Uchiha's surprise and approval. He had thought that she was going to end up dying tonight, just like she feared, but he found himself liking this outcome a lot better. He knew the woman had a little fight in her, deep down somewhere.

The man above her went limp and fell to the floor, a puddle forming of his blood around his head. She let out a large breath of relief, choking in as much air as she could now that she would breathe. The glass from the toilet's tank-lid that she had used as her weapon shattered upon impact with the man's skull and skidded across the floor, some even venturing upon the carpet of the floor by his feet.

The Uchiha let her sit for a moment to regain herself as he finished his glass. When he did enter the bathroom, he flicked on the light to find her hunched over and staring off into space. He stooped and picked up the gun from its hiding place under the sink, dropping it on the floor next to her. She didn't make any move to get it, instead slowly turning to look at him with glazed eyes and blank face.

"I killed him." Her voice was faint.

"Yes," Sasuke didn't have anything else to say other than to agree. "Yes, you did." He kicked the body to make sure it wasn't going to move again anytime soon. "Well, the plan worked perfectly; except for killing the wrong person." He mumbled to himself, glancing at the battered guard once more.

She turned and stared off into space again, breathing shallowly through her mouth and still not picking up the gun. Her eyebrows rose when she finally grasped what she had done. "I….I killed someone…" she began to panic, her hands trembling so hard that they almost lifted themselves from her lap. A strangled sort of noise fell from her throat and landed on deaf ears. He watched her for a little while longer, sometimes turning to look in the other room, feeling like he would find the image of Mother again, leaning over his shoulder and lecturing him on not being a proper gentleman or helping her.

He sighed when he figured he let her suffer enough for the night. "Sakura," he called, but she wouldn't listen. She was having another internal freak-out like the one she had earlier that day when he tried to leave and go to the restroom. Perhaps it wasn't going to be that hard to corrupt her when she seemed to be doing the job on her own. She still didn't answer his callings. "Sakura, get up." He ordered, hoisting her to stand and making her look at him. Her eyes were wide, rimming with unshed tears, but looking past him to something only she knew. He gritted his teeth, using his shirt to wipe the blood from her pale face. She still was ignoring him.

It was not comparable to any form of logical insanity, but he felt it break somewhere within him- in the deep parts of the body where things should never break. His stomach twisted almost painfully, waiting for the final snap that would drive him. Rage;

Rage befell him.

It was causing his eyes to focus from the intense heat boiling in his chest, making its way up his neck and to his expression. His fingers tingled, twitching; _waiting_ for something to grasp. He clenched them into a fist until it hurt, the force itself causing his knuckles to crack in submission. But it wasn't enough. His fingers itched as well for something now. He took the initiative, grasping her small arms and clenching as hard as he could, shaking her until her breath couldn't keep up with the whip-lash and her eyes focused on him, coming back to reality.

Her breathing was harsh. He could feel it tickling his neck.

"What have I done?" she was asking no one in particular. He didn't have an answer to give her that wouldn't be a lie.

"Calm down," he let her go, stepping a respectable three feet away. "Think about things the way I do for one moment, Sakura. He was trying to kill you. His hands were around your little throat, and how they're not; and they never will be again. Problem solved."

"How do you know that he was choking me?" she seemed back to normal enough to ask her usual, annoying questions. The ones that he usually didn't want to answer.

"I was watching, of course," he pointed to the love-seat he had been previously sitting upon. He overlooked her outraged expression when she understood his confession, knowing that it would blow over soon. She usually didn't stay angry with him for long and she was smart enough to know that complaining wouldn't change anything. It certainly wouldn't make him apologize. "Now, I don't claim to make the best decisions, but we should leave now. _Before_ anyone sees us." He rationalized, looking up at the moon. "It's almost midnight."

She nodded and finally picked up her gun from the floor, following him to Daisuke's bedside. She looked to him, probably going to ask another question, but she didn't. She just watched him, waiting for something. Her face was different somehow. Something in her eyes that changed.

"Do you want to do the honors?" Sasuke challenged, swaying his arm toward the sleeping man in offering.

She blew a few strands of disheveled hair from her face, climbing onto the bed and standing over Daisuke, feet planted onto the mattress at each of his sides. She looked down upon his relaxed face as he slumbered, aiming the gun just as Sasuke had told her, cocking the weapon, and firing it between his eyes.

For one glorious moment, as the bullet slid through the many layers of skin and bone and entered the brain beneath, Sasuke thought that his Mother, were she still alive, would have very much approved of Haruno Sakura.


	5. V: The Mood Killer

I do not own Naruto.  
I didn't make up a poem for this part because I didn't really have the time and resources. So I used song lyrics instead. The lyrics are "I'm not calling you a liar" by Florence and the Machine. I feel like it personifies Sakura's view of Sasuke in this story very well.

* * *

Natural Born Killers Part V  
The Mood Killer

* * *

_I'm not calling you a liar, just don't lie to me.  
I'm not calling you a thief, just don't steal from me.  
I'm not calling you a ghost, just stop haunting me.  
And I love you so much, I'm gonna' let you kill me._

_There's a ghost in my lungs and it sighs in my sleep.  
Wraps itself around my tongue and it softly speaks.  
Then it walks, then it walks with my legs;  
To fall, to fall, to fall at your feet._

_There but for the grace of God go I;  
And when you kiss me I am happy enough to die._

* * *

Sasuke rushed them out of the building faster than Sakura could say "autopsy", shimmying her down the rain gutter on the side of the estate's balcony (she had to smack at him a couple times to get him to stop making jokes about her ass as she did) then leading her back through the maze of sewers and alleyways until he thrust her into the black car again, telling the driver to "step on it."

The automobile went to a screeching plunge through the streets of Sound, buildings flying by the female's window as she played with her itchy clothes again, giving Sasuke weary glances from her peripheral every now and then. He was still laughing once and a while to himself. After an unknown amount of time, even Brahm became wary and watched him just as meticulously through the rear-view mirror.

Sakura was almost upset with how easily he had taken up her focus now that they were no longer in danger. All she wanted to do was forget about everything that had happened and relax, but the Uchiha kept saying words like "Sakura" and "killed" and "someone." Particularly words that she did not want to hear.

"Sasuke," she called out calmly, looking forward to keep her mind off of his lopsided smile.

"Yes, Sakura-_chan_?"

"Shut up."

He only laughed more. He could have done the favor of at least _pretending_ that it was more contrived. She made strangling gestures in the air, growling loudly to herself, before slumping in the seat and deciding to just ignore him. Brahm was still staring in the rear-view, but this time at the female psychologist for some reason. She tried to wonder why, but there were other things to be doing.

The lights of the house in the sinking moon were becoming visible on the upcoming horizon. It seemed like they would never reach the flickering white and yellow lighting of their home in the approaching, inevitable darkness of night- and just when Sakura was about to give up hope, they made it there. They made it home.

* * *

She stood under the water of the shower, even after she was completely clean and her fresh, dry clothes were waiting for her to put them on. But other images were plaguing her mind: Sasuke's hand grabbing hers to lead her down the alley toward Juugo, his thumb over her lips, his eyes gazing at her mouth…His strong hands on her upper arms while he shook her in Daisuke's bathroom. She still had the red marks littering her skin.

She sighed, turning off the water. The handles squeaked as she twisted them, droplets falling from her body and hair and plopping loudly onto the floor in the silence of the house.

The thing that was even worse than the torture of Sasuke's indifference was the guilt she felt at not feeling remorseful for what she had done earlier that night. She didn't know if she was going crazy now or not….it didn't seem to really matter considering everything else that she needed to be worrying about instead. But it still frightened her a little to think back on the guard and Daisuke and remember killing them without a hint of regret. Maybe she was still numb form shock. Or maybe she just rationalized that it actually wasn't a big deal after all. Sasuke was right, she told herself; the guard _was_ strangling her so she had no choice but to kill him. And Daisuke would have died anyway, whether it be by her own hand or Sasuke's. The outcome would have been the same. Even if she didn't kill him, her hands would still be dirty with the fact that she let Sasuke do it instead without stopping him. Her standing around and letting people be killed was no different than her actually killing people (she was damned if she did and damned if she didn't). So she decided that this was a mental torture she could do without. She chose to act as if nothing had happened and get back down to business.

The business of _Sasuke_. Of finding out just what was going on; what was the basis of their relation together. Was it purely platonic or something else that was even more confusing but closer to how Sakura felt for the man?

She didn't know but there was only one way to find out. And it was a scary way.

Before she lost her courage, she wrapped a towel around her body loosely and made her way down the hall for a bottle of wine.

She passed by Sasuke's room on the way, the floor boards creaking from her weight when she leaned forward to press her ear to his door, hearing nothing from inside though she knew he would be in there, listening to the creaking and knowing that it was her. She wondered what he always did in there all alone, but continued on her way to the kitchen again- walking straight to the wine rack, picking out the sweetest tasting bottle, and (she knew this was stupid, but it would help in making her drunk as quick as possible) she chugged the bottle before throwing it into the recycling bin in the closet.

She paced back and forth along the cool flooring of the kitchen, fiddling with her fingers and mumbling to herself- glancing at the clock every few seconds until dizziness and smiles hit her like a truck. She almost needed to sit down when the alcohol made its way to her blood stream and had to think for a moment to remember what it was that she was supposed to be doing. She was ashamed in herself slightly, but made her way out of the kitchen all the same. She stumbled slightly when turning the corner back into the long hallway and had to spend most of her effort on staying upright until she made it to Sasuke's bedroom door once again.

She thought about knocking, but it didn't seem appropriate. Should she call out his name for him to answer? No, that wouldn't be best either. She hadn't thought this far ahead.

She was prepared to lose her courage and walk back to her room to berate herself when the sound of his deep voice came through the wood of the door in front of her. "Sakura," was all he said, knowing she was there and probably becoming annoyed at her strange behavior. Probably wondering why she was making so much noise bumping into things and standing outside his doorway doing only God knew what. She tried not to become too embarrassed.

She took a deep breath and pushed open the door, walking into the dark room and shutting it behind her. She almost smiled when she saw his form lying on his bed, his back on the mattress and his arm slung over his eyes. His other arm dangled over the edge, suspended in mid-air over the floor.

He watched as she made her way toward the other side of the bed slowly, as if she were second guessing herself. He could only make out her outline in the darkness, but he knew the timid atmosphere that had suddenly accosted him belonged only to the Haruno woman.

"Hn." Was all he said and returned to closing his eyes and replacing his bent arm over them. He heard something drop lightly to the ground, a heavy piece of fabric. It made a strange noise when it made contact with the floor, as if the fabric were slightly wet.

The other side of the mattress she was standing by dipped downward with her weight and the sheets next to him that he had neglected was tugged her way slightly until she settled and was still. He took a moment of listening to the crickets outside until he finally asked, "What are you doing?" It was not the best thing he could have come up with to say, but he was too tired to find anything less appropriate to tease her with. The dying noise of the cricket song out his cracked window showed that it must have been the very early hours of morning, just before the sun would rise.

If he were any less of a man, her next words would have had him almost toppling off his edge of the bed. "Do you want to have sex?" Her voice was straight and unwavering; he could picture the determination that would be present in her eyes. Her light green irises would be dimmed slightly by the lack of light and her pupils would be large, almost like a begging cat- beckoning to him.

"That would be like fucking my Mother." He uttered quickly, but she didn't seem to notice his haste. Her slightly slurred words when she had asked him that unexpected question only answered his own question of why she kept making all of that noise in the hallway. He should have seen this coming, he thought to himself. But at least she could rule out the Oedipus complex from her list of diagnosis for him. He smiled at that.

She hoped she heard him right. "What?" she whispered, holding back the hurt. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing he was able to get to her because his answer was only a self-defense mechanism he used whenever he was in awkward situations. She was sure he didn't really mean it.

"That would be like touching my Mother." He reiterated slowly, cutting off the conversation before she could try and change his mind, but she overstepped him like usual (much to his chagrin) and kept pestering for a real answer to why he refused.

"Stop lying," she ordered and he cocked a brow at the ceiling. "You can tell me the real reason, Sasuke," she tried, hoping it would reassure him to be truthful. "It's because it's me that asked, isn't it?" He was slightly turned off by her new attitude. She seemed more insecure than her usual peppy, overconfident nature.

"That's not it," he said and peeked at her from under his arm. Her eyes were darker, hazier. And her lids were drooping slightly in an effort to defeat the alcohol and stay awake. He figured she was past the 'point of no return' and the only thing that would come next would be to figure out if she were a happy or sad drunk. He hoped it was the first. She was still lying on her stomach and laying her head sleepily on her crossed arms under her. The sheet was thin and pristine white in the light of the moon, her pale skin almost blended with it as the light came in through the rafters of his window's shades, draping in slanted lines of gold sunshine across her form as day broke out on the distant horizon somewhere.

She lifted her head to look at him in that way she always did, drooping her lids more to gaze at his lying form next to her, then laying her head back in its place again. Her voice was low and teasing, not like her usual womanly tone. It seemed that she was a depressed drunk, after all.

He looked toward the ceiling again to distract from the woman and how her back curved ever so slightly until it reached the mound of her rear. He cursed under his breath. He really didn't have time for this, but Sakura seemed to pick the worse times to do these things. Her legs were bent, dangling her feet in the air and crossing her ankles over and over again, waiting for him to speak. "I _would_ have personally accepted your offer….maybe," he glanced at her from the corner of his eye when he saw her shift slightly more toward him to listen better. Her head propped on her hand with her elbow holding her up on the mattress, as if her head were too heavy. "But I don't sleep with women who aren't sober enough to make the rational decision for themselves. I'm a psychotic, raving lunatic- not a date-rapist. Come back when you've slept it off and I'll think about it." He offered, only halfway serious but not sounding sincere in the slightest to the girl. He didn't want to deal with the Haruno woman if she were going to slit her wrists next to him. She certainly looked like she was contemplating it.

"You're such an ass-hole!" she slapped her hand onto the mattress hard, but it took in the impact easily. Did he not care that she was about to go into cardiac arrest just by asking that question- it was the hardest thing she could ever remember mustering up the courage to do!

"Watch what you say, Sakura, my answer is final and you forget exactly _who_ you are speaking to. You're overstepping the boundaries we have put in place since meeting; not to mention how you constantly over-romanticize your idea of me. Whoever put you up to this should be euthanized." She looked as if the world had been shattered in that one moment, but he continued without pause, attempting to overlook the hurt expression she tried to hide. She couldn't hide it as easily from her eyes as she could from her face. "You're my accomplice, not my lover."

"Nobody put me up to it…" she whispered the denial into her arm and the words were muffled, not looking at him and closing her eyes tightly to rid herself of his words. He couldn't really find it in himself to feel sorry for the girl: her selfishness, her naivety…to actually _think_ that this was going to end well…

He knew that she had surrendered to him, but only for a moment. Her face became solidly determined once more when she had collected some thoughts and she didn't leave like he thought she would. "Nobody made me come here…." She mumbled, as if trying to convince herself instead of him. "I just wanted to figure something out. But now I think I understand."

"You can leave now," He spoke immediately and she saw his fist clench slightly before it hung loosely again. His fingers were shaking a little and the skin of his neck was a little more flustered than usual. Was he angry with her? She didn't know.

He looked over to see her face, so close to his, and the light showed him his reflection in her wide eyes. Her expression struck fast and remained immovable, like she was being eaten up by the violence of it. Her hair was slightly damp and clinging small strands to her high cheekbones, and he guessed she had taken a shower.

He raised a hand to move the hair in an attempt to settle her once again, to make her listen to him for once, but the words _don't touch me_ were just hanging off her tongue. He could see it in her angered brows and placed his hand back where it was.

"You won't touch me because I'm me," She asked the question, but it came out as a statement.

"Put two and two together; I won't do it for you," was his way of telling her that she was wrong, but she seemed to take it as meaning the opposite. She never seemed to understand what he was saying and always got the wrong ideas. But he wasn't going to correct her or rephrase himself.

Soon, her face evened out. She laughed loudly, a slightly depressing chatter from her. "Here I am, lying naked in your bed, and you still don't want me.." she fiddled with her fingers, internally torturing herself, he guessed.

"Naked?" he asked, lifting the sheet from her back and giving her derriere a good once-over before dropping the fabric back. She didn't seem to mind, just watching his face. He sighed and turned to the ceiling for what he hoped was the last time that night, it was really starting to bore him. It didn't even have any interesting patterns on it.

"Sasuke," came her timid voice again and he almost flinched when it was right beside his ear. He kept his eyes trained on the ceiling, which only made her persevere more for an answer. _Such a stubborn girl!_ He didn't want to acknowledge the woman and tried to think of a way to make her leave. She was becoming bolder in herself with every one of his dismissals, which he didn't quite like. She branded her hand through his hair, purring out her plea. "Please?" It was so much more than just one word and she hoped he understood that she wasn't asking for only sex anymore. She hoped he understood everything she was asking for in that little utter of her lips.

_Please tell me that I'm more than a accomplice.  
Please keep me safe. I'm scared.  
Please let me show that I love you, even if you don't love me;  
Please stop _torturing_ me. I can't take it. I'm not strong like you._

"Sakura," he mimicked the way she had said his name. "You really don't understand what's going on, do you?" he almost laughed out the words in astonishment and she was surprised with his sudden change of voice. It was back to how he usually spoke when he was going to do something a little strange. His mood swings (or should she say 'mind swings') were something she was never able to fully understand or predict, but she became a little more wary of him, if only to prepare herself in case something dark came out of him again. "I'm in the middle of planning the most important thing in the history of Sound right now and you're only concerned with your feelings; which are completely screwed, by the way." He really did laugh this time, belittling her emotions like he always did. She was used to it. "So you should really just leave. Now."

"I might not be what you want me to be, and I might not have the same priorities as you. But I can give you a lot more than some stupid _plan_ can-" he cut her off before she could continue trying to convince him.

"You're weak." His voice, which was usually playful and even soothing- sometimes bored- was now harsh and she chocked down a gasp at its force.

She squeezed her eyes shut, as if hoping she wouldn't have to see this monster that was in front of her. The monster that was eating away at her, slowly but surely. "Only for you," she struggled to keep her composure. She didn't want to break in front of him, but it hurt too much to pretend anymore. She couldn't pretend that she didn't feel for him because she was unable to lie to herself anymore: she'd love him from the first time she saw him until the day she died, and every moment in-between. Even if it was him who killed her. Even if he killed her savagely.

"As entertaining as you have been tonight so far, I don't have time for this," he said, trying to get up, but she grabbed the helm of his pants roughly as he rose, pulling him back down. She didn't necessarily believe that she deserved his praise for her actions but, at the same time, she did not appreciate his subtle disrespect. She could see the tension in his shoulders gaining. She didn't think she could handle him walking away after everything she had been through so far. He owed her a true answer, at least. She deserved the truth.

"Don't go," the whisper left her before she could make her brain send the order.

He let out a long breath through his nose, sitting heavily on the bed with his bare back to her. She watched his shoulders rise and fall with the air leaving his lungs. "Sakura," he sighed out her name with the breath. "You don't know what you're asking for from me. It's a lot more complicated than just asking me for sex. And I am sure you are only acting so needy because you had the brilliant idea of getting fucked up before coming to me… The _real_ you wouldn't degrade yourself by acting like some love-sick puppy. You're stronger than that. If you're going to be weak now, I no longer have any reason to keep you around." He tried to explain and grabbed her hand, loosening her fingers one by one to get her fist off of his pants and get free, but as soon as he removed one and moved onto the next, she would re-clench the one he had defeated into the fabric again. He gave up after a moment and set her with a hard look.

"Then, what am I asking for?" she was still on her stomach, resting on her elbows with her hands outstretched onto him (she seemed to have only heard the beginning of what he had said; wither ignoring the rest or just too drunk to pay full attention). The sheet had jumbled between the back of her legs in her twisting to grab him and her back exposed itself. Her chest was covered modestly, but he could make out the soft curving of her breasts under the thin material.

"I'm not going to play this game with you," he tried to rise again, having no desire to answer her inappropriate question, this time making it to a full standing position before she rose with his sheet and hugged him from the back to protest his movements. The warmth of her skin accosted his through the sheet as her chest pressed into his lower back. "You really don't want to make me angry." He warned through gritted teeth. He was late for a meeting with the Kage. He had a duty to inform him of the successful job and he couldn't miss it. Sakura was putting everything in jeopardy. "Get off." He ordered quietly, trying not to raise his voice. Brahm was waiting in the living room for him so he could watch Sakura while the Uchiha was gone, he had heard the front door open only moments before and Brahm's heavy footsteps come in, and he didn't want the man to hear his and Sakura's argument.

But the Haruno only shook her head fiercely against his back. "No."

"Sakura." he warned again, but she kept shaking her head stubbornly. If it was any other situation, he wouldn't have found it as enraging and would have merely picked her up and thrown her into the cold pond in the backyard, but he had too many things to do and the woman was already enough of a hassle as it was. He could feel the rage from earlier that night make its way through him again. Deep somewhere in his person, he felt another snap and he couldn't stop himself as he grabbed her, throwing her off of himself to be rid of the oppressing heat she had plastered against his back.

She gasped and choked in surprise, falling back onto the mattress and bouncing up before falling again, settling against the cushion and clenching the fabric to her chest. Her legs had come out, exposed to him until at her mid-thigh when she flung them to steady herself. The blasted sun kept rising, throwing the slanted lines of light onto her as she gaped up at him, her mouth slightly open and breathing harshly. She made a move to get up towards him again but he stopped her before she had the chance, holding down her arms against the cushion to keep her facing him, making sure not to touch any other part of her body with his own. For a moment, she flinched. As if thinking he was going to hit her. When he didn't she looked up at him again, controlling her breathing. "You need to lie down and rest." He moved to grab the thicker blanket at the foot of the bed to put over her, urging her to sleep off the alcohol and _leave him alone_. But, as he did, she used her free arm to hook around his neck and angle herself closer to his front, giving him a sly smile and tottering her drunken head back and forth teasingly.

He sighed in frustration, about to call in Brahm to take the girl back to her own room and lock her in until later that night. And he would have done that, if she hadn't chosen that moment to take her knee and rub it firmly against his crotch.

She smiled when he didn't stop the guttural noise in the back of his throat, drooping his head and closing his eyes for a moment. It was the first time that Sakura had ever seen him in a purely unguarded moment. But he sobered quickly, coming back to his normal self and taking a handful of her damp tresses, tugging her face to his. "Sas-" Her desperate plea was cut off by his lips. She didn't fight when he shifted his position so he was towering over her, between her thighs. And just when she thought she had won, he pulled away.

"I have said it to the Kage before but I will repeat myself to you; I am a selfish man, I am sure you will understand." His nose was touching hers and his breathing was insultingly even, not even effected by her ministrations. The only sound in the room was Sakura's own harsh breaths. "So I am actually doing you a favor by saying that I am not interested in your offer," he pulled tighter onto her scalp to make her pay attention when she tried to turn her head away with a scoff at his choice of words. "Because if I were to take you now, you would become mine; no one else's. I would treat you just like I would treat any other woman," he bent to whisper harshly in her ear, tightening his other hand to hold her squirming torso down, and the words he said sent more terror through her than ever before. She had never heard him utter anything so maliciously, so domineering. "I don't like things to be held up before me that I cannot have." He threw her to the bed when he let go of her hair, extracting himself form her body. "Now," he stood and grabbed a shirt from the mantle nearby, calm as ever, and putting it on. "Get out."

She didn't wait to reply, wrapping the sheet tightly around herself and opening the door to his room. She made sure she slammed it behind her and she almost ran into Brahm on her way out. His hand was extended in a fist towards the door as if he were about to knock before she had barged out so unexpectedly. He took in her appearance as she watched his face morph between confusion, understanding, then finally outrage. He met his eyes to her widened ones, "What did he do to you?" he asked in barely concealed rage, assuming the worst.

"Nothing," she rasped, her hands clenching the fabric for dear life. She wasn't sure if she would be able to survive the humiliation. "He didn't do _anything_!" she whispered, tears finally shedding and she swiped her hand across her cheeks to be rid of them before they were seen for too long and pulling herself together. He led her to the living room, sitting the shuddering girl at a coffee table. "There I am, completely and unbendingly offering myself to him, and he refuses as if the idea of even _touching_ me is repulsive!"

He placed a soothing hand on her shoulder in an effort to cheer her (he had never been good with woman in general, let alone hysterical, drunk women) but when he remembered her indecent attire he removed his hand, embarrassed.

"Believe it or not," Brahm set down the newspaper he had previously been holding in a heap on the table in front of her, using a little more force than necessary. "It's actually a good thing. You don't want to end up dead somewhere, right?" he asked and she was confused as to what he meant exactly by her death. "He's doing you a favor and he knows it." But she began overreacting even more when she noticed how his words almost mirrored Sasuke's own. Brahm wondered if it was something he said and tried his best not to recoil and run away.

"Sasuke is going to kill me eventually anyway," she hiccupped. "Is there something wrong with me or something?" she looked into his eyes hopefully, breathing shakily in her body's effort to calm down enough to hear his answer.

"Of course not," he reassured as best as any man in that situation could. "He's just being Sasuke." He offered and she seemed to agree but it didn't change her downtrodden expression. "I'm sure there is a reason for his inaction."

She nodded in agreement after a moment and Brahm decided that that was the best moment to leave. He had other things he had to do quickly. There wasn't much time left and Sasuke was becoming more hurried in his plan.

He made his way down the hall to the Uchiha's door, knocking until the man answered and walked out into the hall with him: full black outfit from head to toe. "Are you ready?" Brahm asked.

"Hn." Was all he said back, making his way down the hall with Brahm following.

"That girl is going to hate you in the morning."

"She won't remember that she hates me in the morning," Sasuke stated calmly, completely sure in his answer and glancing at the Haruno woman who had fallen asleep at the coffee table. "Brahm."

"Yea?"

"Will you put her somewhere so she doesn't make even more of an ass out of herself while I'm gone?" the Uchiha intoned, adjusting the black tie around his neck then he walked out the door and stepped into the awaiting car on the curb.

Brahm sighed, always being left with the strangest orders. He picked up the girl, bringing her down the hall and placing her back in the bed. He was sure Sasuke would be annoyed with finding Sakura in his room again, but he hoped it would make the Uchiha think twice before making him do such downgrading things anymore. He wasn't a babysitter. He had other things to be doing than watching a grown woman. But, then again, with all of Sasuke's enemies coming to Sound for the celebration, the girl needed _someone_ to protect her. Especially since the Uchiha would be a lot more busy than usual. And Brahm didn't trust the raven-haired man's promise of keeping her out of his own problems.

"_Whatever it is you're planning, I don't want her to be one of the unlucky people around you who tend to die."_ Brahm remembered his own words while he and Sasuke had carried the pink-haired woman back home from the night club only two days earlier.

Yes, he would have to watch the Uchiha more closely. He couldn't let the man's _plan_ interfere with his own. He considered himself an honorable man and his job was to protect Sakura; he would complete that task, even if Sasuke himself got in his way. If that was the case, he would have to kill Sasuke before Sasuke could kill Sakura. She was the only thing around them that didn't need to be destroyed. There were many he knew who deserved death, some more than others, but she was just a young woman who was too naïve to realize that she had fallen in love with the wrong man.

Everyone makes mistakes.

* * *

One time, while walking home from a small shop, Sasuke had smiled down at her. The sun was blazing and melting her ice-cream and there was a slight wind blowing in from the east where Konoha was located. The sun was so bright and cast a light around Sasuke whenever Sakura looked up at him. And she couldn't figure out when being by him began to feel normal, or if it had ever felt normal at all, but he was still smiling at her. Then she woke up- and she couldn't remember what she said that made him so happy. But she had to pinch her leg to keep from crying over her disappointment.

_ On Sleepless roads, the sleepless go._

"Wake up," a familiar male voice cut through the birdsong of what she guessed was late morning. He repeated himself again and again until the woman roused, the throbbing in her head coming to full capacity.

"What time is it?" she moaned, sitting up and whipping the sleep from her eyes.

"Eleven," he simply answered. "I hope you had a good four hours of sleep, because we have a lot to do today." She could hear the smirk in his voice, as if he knew something she didn't and he thought that it was very amusing.

"What do you mean 'we'?" she made to ask him, yawning loudly and stretching. The joints of her elbows cracked deliciously and she moaned softly at the relief it gave her stiff body. She felt like she had been sleeping in one position the whole night without moving. "And why are you in my room?" she snuggled deeper into the covers, trying to hide from the light of the sun. Her stomach growled hungrily and she placed her hand on her skin to try and soothe the emptiness away, expecting her usual night shirt to be there. Needless to say, she was surprised to be met with nothing but her own flesh and even more surprised when memories from the night before flickered behind her closed eyelids.

She sprang up, clutching the blankets around her like a protective mote and scurrying toward the extreme edge of the bed, looking on the ground for clothes but only finding the wet towel she had dropped there the night before. "You're in _my_ room, Sakura. But I'm not surprised you don't remember."

"What happened?" she yelled and Sasuke was betting that Brahm was having a laughing fit in the living room right now. "What did you do to me?"

"What _didn't_ we do?" he asked a different question without answering hers, using his usual joking voice. Her eyes transfixed in horror. "How much do you remember?"

"I certainly remember how you rudely compared me to your own Mother," she glared at him, hands balled around the fabric at her chest in fury.

"That's all?" he laughed loudly, doubling over before composing himself. "I thought you'd at least remember more than the first thirty seconds of our conversation. It's almost pathetic."

"What. Happened." She said each word separately, threateningly.

"Progressively _deviant_ sexual favors were exchanged." He answered, clawing playfully at her, making a mocking purring noise while he flipped through some random book from his wall's shelves.

"You bastard!" And then she lunged at him. It only took him seconds to tame her again, but he was still impressed with her audacity.

"Relax, Sakura," he sat her back down after she got a few punches in- one punch in particular that was very well-aimed and would probably leave his jaw a bit sore for the remainder of the day. "Nothing happened. I was joking."

Her breathing was extremely heavy after her bout of adrenaline. "How am I supposed to believe _you_? How can I know that you're not lying?" She bent and grabbed the towel from the floor, putting it in an empty hamper in a closet that he never seemed to use. She idly wondered who did his laundry for him, but didn't linger on the thought.

"Are you sore?" he asked like he already knew the answer.

"W-what?" she breathed out, turning to him quickly from across the room, eyes wide.

"It's a simple question, Sakura." He shrugged and placed his book back on the shelf before slowly making his way to her. "Are you _sore_?" he asked again.

She pressed her inner thighs together to test them for the soreness he was talking about. They felt normal enough, not hurting any more than they usually would after sleeping in one position for four hours. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Trust me, Sakura," he took her shoulders, turning her to face his bedroom door. "_If_ we had sex last night," he opened the door and pushed her out gently. "You would be limping for the rest of the week." And with that, he shut the door behind her. "Oh, and, by the way," his voice called through his door at her back. "You have a very nice ass."

_Stupid, arrogant, overconfident, lecherous, carousing, ass-hole!_ She stomped her way to her own room, taking his sheet with her. She was planning on burning it later, just to spite him. She even thought for a moment that she heard Brahm snickering quietly to himself in the living room.

* * *

She paced across her room, not knowing if she should be thankful that nothing had happened between her and the Uchiha or if she were disappointed. Either way, it didn't do her any good- because Sasuke had said no.

No amount of feeling sorry for herself would change that fact. Moping wouldn't change the outcome. But, God, she wanted to ball up in the fetal position and sleep under a rock for a few decades at least. She couldn't afford that luxury, though, because Sasuke was sending Brahm every few minutes to knock on her door, pestering her to hurry up and get to the kitchen for breakfast. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought. She was starving, but wasn't sure she would be able to hold anything down. Her head pounded painfully and her stomach lurched whenever a whiff of the food cooking in the kitchen made its way into her nose.

But, all in all, she gathered herself and made her way down the hall toward the source of the smell. Sasuke was listening to the classical radio station extra loudly, which could only mean one thing: he was in a good mood. Usually, she would take that as a sign that the day would be easier than the last few. But, with Sasuke, a good mood meant that their 'busy' day was going to be full of Sasuke ordering her to do things that she would rather not do. What little bit of sanity she still held couldn't handle it, she thought.

She hurried across the floorboards of where the hallway attached to the living room, turning the corner to the door of the kitchen only to stub her toe on the chair of the coffee table in her haste. She doubled over, grabbing her foot and lifting it, holding it in her hands tightly while hopping up and down repeatedly upon her right leg. Sasuke's head popped out from around the corner of the door to inspect her, then leaving again when he realized the reason for her sharp cry. "You should be more careful. You won't be of any use to me tonight if you can't walk." He called, returning to his place in front of the stove, flipping what she guessed was a perfectly golden pancake. She would never understand his love for the fluffy, flattened circles of batter. He enjoyed pancakes more than he enjoyed a woman, she laughed to herself at the silliness of it.

She was about to continue into the kitchen, setting her injured foot back onto the cool flooring and moving forward, but only to step on a crinkled wad of paper that seemed to have fallen in a heap onto the floor from the coffee table. She picked up the culprit, flipping through its pages and reading as she entered the room to join the Uchiha. He was using the wooden spatula to ding against the pan in tune with the piano concerto from the stereo and ignoring her entire existence.

"Do you mind? I'm trying to read here…" she trailed and he chose that moment to notice her presence.

He turned fully toward her, as fast as he dared and flushing his back to the stove. She was surprised his dark shirt didn't catch fire. Then she noticed his fancy attire. "Why are you so dressed up?" she questioned, lowering the newspaper from her face slightly in order to look over its pages to view his entire form (eying his dark, fitted suit and black tie). He peacefully grabbed a mug from the counter near him, pouring a dark liquid that she guessed was coffee into the cup and sliding it across the marble countertop of the island toward her. She caught it before it could fall off the edge and shatter against the floor.

"You and I are attending the Kage's celebration tonight." He ventured to the fridge, pulling out his own drink. He released the bottle from its seal and took a few swigs of the thick beer. She tried not to think too much about his choice of morning drink.

"It's tonight?" she blurted and he turned again to flip the pancakes. He picked up the larger one, looking at its underside to find it completely burnt black and cursing the Haruno woman under his breath for distracting him. He threw the pancake away in the trash bin with a sad look on his face before answering her.

"Yes," was all he said.

"What time do we have to be there at?"

"The Kage wouldn't care if we were a little late, but we should be punctual. Or at least try to be." He placed the finished pancakes on a small platter and laid it in the center of the island between them. He motioned for her to help herself to the food, but she shook her head, already feeling a little queasy at the thought alone. He shrugged and began to eat on his own, using an over-excess of syrup and butter to flavor his meal. "We should be there at around five or six since it starts at four…fashionably late is probably the best way. I'll have Brahm drive us there. After that, I'll have to go with the Kage to speak to some investors in private. So, you and Brahm will wait in the dance hall for us- and you're not to leave his sight for even a moment." He gave her a look to make sure she agreed before stuffing his mouth with more food.

She didn't know if the tingling of her spine was from feeling elated that he didn't want her wondering off on her own or if she were frustrated that he didn't trust her.

He looked at the newspaper in her hands, swallowing everything in his mouth and pointing to a certain article. "Brahm said there was something on the front page that might interest us, but I haven't read it yet." He said and she guessed it meant that he was telling her to read it for him while he ate.

She furiously shifted through the pages again until she made it to the wad of the front page. Her fingers fumbled with the crumbled paper until it was smoothed upon the marble countertop for her to inspect.

She read a few paragraphs before looking to him with wide eyes. He looked back at her, completely befuddled as to why she seemed so frightened. She re-read it, hoping the words would change. But they remained hauntingly the same.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, leaning forward toward the paper that now piqued his interest, but she didn't answer him as she read it again. And again.

The newspapers ravenously forced Uchiha Sasuke in the forefront of every household of Sound and Suna. In his escape from the hospital and reputation for being one of the most insufferable young men, stories of 'Mr. Bloodbath Uchiha' never failed to catch the attentions of the people. The article, in plain black and white, stared at her from the table.

No one was able to resist a story like the story of a young orphaned boy who ended up killing his Father in determined revenge for his Mother: a tragic life of a boy who turned into a man, hidden behind the walls of an asylum- but only to escape and callously avenge himself against the outside world; literally turning himself into death incarnate. A schemer who kidnapped the Board of Psychology's youngest female member and forced her to help him slash down the High Minister of Suna in cold blood. A genius plotter who outwitted Konoha's finest detectives and military minds, easily escaping with his whereabouts still unknown to this day. His life was as ruthless as himself- but nothing less than extraordinary; unforgettable, the feature of epics. His story sells.

"Sakura," he tried again, placing his plate in the sink and rinsing it. "What is it?" his voice sounded calmer now that he was across the room.

"An article about you," she gasped out, clutching her stomach which had started lurching again, but this time not from the food's smell.

"So?" he shrugged. "Did it say anything about the police knowing where I am?" he seemed so unaffected by it all that she couldn't help but admire and hate him at the same time.

"No," she answered, thankful in that at least. She wouldn't be able to get out of another interrogation. This time, if they caught her and the Uchiha, she would have no excuse as to why she was with him. She couldn't claim to be a clueless hostage again. She would be sent to prison as well, especially after Daisuke's murder at her own hands.

"Then you have nothing to worry about." He said 'you' instead of 'we' like he didn't have any reason to worry at all and it was only her who should be scared. She didn't know what to do with herself. The very seat she sat on began to feel foreign.

He turned to her, sitting in the seat across from her again. "Of course I'm going to worry!" She hollered, throwing the paper in his direction. It fell gently from the air and landed without noise upon the smooth surface of the counter. He didn't give it a parting glance, not distressed in the slightest, and still looking at her without pause.

"Did it say anything else other than what happened in Suna?" he lifted his drink to his lips again, taking a few swigs from the bottle.

"They called you a deliriously sycophantic sadist," she said once she calmed down, repeating his words of not to worry to herself. He was right. They didn't know where he was, so there was no reason to worry.

If Sasuke didn't want to be found or caught, he wouldn't be found or caught. It was as simple as that.

"Hmm," he rubbed his chin. "Succinct as ever, aren't they?"

The next few hours were spent avoiding each other; Sasuke was talking quietly with Brahm in the study while Sakura tried her best to not think about what might happen at the celebration. Sasuke wouldn't make her go unless it was important to whatever he was planning.

* * *

"I think you should wear that one." Sasuke pointed across the room to a dark green colored dress as he lounged on an old-fashioned couch in the dressing quarters. They were currently positioned together in the large clothes storage through the small entrance above the spiral staircase. It was the same room in which he had dragged her to before taking her to that God-awful night club three days earlier. "What do you think, Brahm?" he asked the silent man sitting next to him and leaning back just as lazily as the first. They both held large glasses of dark wine, clinking them together every once in a while and saying "cheers" about random things.

"I believe that you have far better taste in women's clothes than any straight man should," Brahm complimented the raven-haired young bachelor to his left and Sasuke laughed in reply.

She grabbed the dress from the rack, holding it up to look. The two men accompanying her in the room were becoming impatient with her choices- every time they picked something, she would turn it down and refuse to wear it. Mostly because the Uchiha would choose the skimpiest outfits he could find.

"No," she said, placing it back on the rack and walking away to another section of fancy fabrics.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah…woah!" Sasuke lunged out of his seat, basically running to the rack and taking the dress she had returned back out. "You're wearing it." He tried to hand it back to her, but she wouldn't take it.

"And why are you so fervent about making me wear _that_ particular one?" she raised her brow at him, waiting for an answer. Brahm leaned forward, too, just as eager to hear.

"I have my reasons," Was all he said, pushing her behind the dressing-fold and throwing the dress over the blockade separating her from their vision.

And he didn't give her enough time to complain about her appearance before he dragged her out of the house, making comments about how they were going to be late and stating that it was Sakura's fault if they were. She tried to kick him in the shin as she sat on the cool leather of the car's seats, but he effectively dodged her with a chuckle.

She didn't even attempt to ask him this time why he was so earnest on going to the celebration in the first place. She knew she wouldn't receive an answer other than him making up something unnecessary to say at her expense. So she asked him a different question instead.

"Why do you insist on making my life a living hell? Couldn't you find some other woman to pester?" she was hunched forward ungracefully, resting her elbow on her knee and her chin on her hand. "I'm sure that Karin girl would be more than happy to oblige you. She seemed very willing when I met her." She didn't realize she was almost jealous until after she said it, thinking back to the red headed female from the day before.

"That would be quite counterproductive, Sakura," he held up a finger to make his point, as if that was all it took to make his words make sense. She shook her head. "I'm using Karin for a completely different reason than why I keep you around. You're here so I can annoy you; but Karin holds some information that I still need until my rendezvous with her after the celebration." She didn't know if he was insulting her or if it was supposed to be a compliment.

"So your only reason for dragging me with you tonight is so you can annoy me?"

"Yes," he nodded. "But- at the same time- a huge, depletory no."

"What does that even mean?" she rolled her eyes, looking to Brahm for an answer but he didn't seem to be interested in what was going on in the back seat.

"It means that, while I love to make you uncomfortable," he leaned violently close to her. "I also need you here because the investors won't simply heed my own words. But _you're_ a renowned psychologist from Konoha who has been sent to work here by Tsunade. They will see you with me and it will instill them to trust the Kage and me." He was so convincing in his verbal brevity, summing up so much in so little words.

She frowned. He had planned this part ever since the day he called Tsunade, pretending to be Hirotsu Midarami.

"What else would you expect, Sakura?" he asked, figuring out from her expression what she had been thinking. "I have taken an involuntary vow of mischief. So, you can't expect me to be anything other than what I am."

"That seems highly unorthodox, even coming from you…" she whispered, feeling her breath mingle with his. _Involuntary vow of mischief?...Is he seriously playing that card?_

"Sakura," he gave her a lopsided smile. "When have I _ever_ conformed to social norms? I would sully my reputation if I began acting orthodox _now_." he wasn't looking for an answer.

He righted himself straight again, away from her, and spoke to Brahm when the car came to a stop in front of a large, historic building. Its pillars were like sky-scrapers, holding up a balcony over the grand entrance where aristocratic-looking men and women were gathering to go in.

"Brahm," Sasuke stepped out of the car, leaning into the open doorway and looking up at them. "Make sure this little minx doesn't do anything unexpected." He said then gave her a dark smirk before shutting the door and walking up the stairs and through the grand entrance, out of sight.

Sakura had nothing to do other than let herself be escorted through the crowd and into the grand dance-hall where the piano was playing and champagne was being served. She was left standing alone in the center of the marble floor. Small groups of business men and their wives or mistresses (some of them were young enough to be fathered by them- twice over) were flocking together in conversation, the noise of their voices buzzing around her while she scanned the group for Brahm. He had walked away silently while she wasn't looking and she didn't notice he was gone until she turned to speak to him, but didn't find anyone there. She was sure he was in the crowd somewhere, blending in expertly and watching her like a hawk.

But it still felt so lonely with nothing to do but wait and hope that the raven-haired Uchiha would return again to her soon. She didn't know what he and the Kage were doing with those other investors they were talking to, but she didn't like the ideas that came into her head.

Sasuke was acting sickeningly suspicious. She was sure he was up to something that would involve her unwilling accompaniment.

* * *

Brahm watched the girl twiddle her thumbs together, obviously not belonging in the same room as the other people. She didn't even try to fit in, but he guessed that it didn't matter much. He needed to pay more attention to the people surrounding her. Sasuke had warned him that there were a few people who were angry about the new mergers for the Kage, and they might or might not know that Sakura was an accomplice. That only meant that the girl's life was most likely in danger. The people Sasuke was dealing with were far from ignorant, so it was needless to say that they would be able to figure out something as simple as finding who was working with the Uchiha. And, no offense to Sakura, but she tended to stick out like a sore thumb. It would only be too easy to find her and end her.

Sasuke knew this and ordered Brahm to watch the woman and interfere if necessary, and didn't think it was appropriate to tell the woman that her life may be in jeopardy. Brahm had argued that he should tell the woman, but the Uchiha had refused every time. Brahm supposed it was for the best, though. Sakura had enough to worry about as it was. And she certainly didn't need any more on her list of 'things that could go wrong.' (He was being serious, too. She actually had a list titled: 'Things That Could Go Wrong' in her bedroom and Sasuke's name was at the top. He had found it once when he went to check on her by orders of the Uchiha).

Plus, Brahm was still suspicious as to why Sasuke had sent him to watch the roseate psychologist. There were far better men for the job that could protect her better, but for some reason the Uchiha had chosen Brahm instead. Was it because he didn't want Brahm in the same room while he spoke to the Kage and the investors?

It was a possibility. And Brahm didn't like possibilities. He needed to somehow find out what was going on in that room.

But how could he do that without leading Sakura to the wolves?

No. He had no choice but to stay, no matter how much he hated it. He would just have to find out what the Uchiha was up to some other time when resources weren't so slim.

* * *

I felt him before I saw him. I didn't need to turn my head left towards the entrance doors to know it was him who was entering; and I didn't need to register how everyone seemed to stand a little straighter or speak a little quieter when in his presence- but I did. Because there had always been something about Sasuke that demanded attention, it was the same thing that demanded respect, and I was always finding myself overshadowed by its aggression- forcing me into complacent submission. I had always thought that it was just simply the effect he had on me; after all, some people were naturally like that and it was not something to be stopped or explained. But now I realized how it affected the rest of the room as well. Because there was no way of avoiding the fact that he was an alpha- he knew it and so did everyone else.

Maybe it was the _way_ he entered the room that made it so apparent? How he sauntered through the door as if he _owned_ the damn place. Or, perhaps it was his unconceivable aura- the one which held a dangerous edge to what promised excitement and a dark kiss in an abandoned alley. For Kami's sake, he didn't even bother fully buttoning his collared shirt or properly wearing his tie- it hung lazily around his neck, brushing his collar bone whenever he shifted to take a step. But, above all this and the way he rudely evaded the dress code (choosing to wear stark white converse instead of the standard formal attire), I was sure it was his voice that did most of the work- the way he knew how to hold a conversation without even contributing more than a nod and few sparse words. There was evidence of this in how he so easily wrapped the Kage of Sound around his fingers, and he did it so quietly that the Kage didn't even know what had hit him. It was his presence, his aura, and his tone that set the fire of the room.

He didn't need to scan the crowd even; his eyes found me as soon as he walked through the threshold of that door, his usual smirk forming when he probably knew what I was thinking; but, then again, it could have just been him, being Sasuke- arrogant and forbiddingly beautiful and unabashedly concupiscent and-

A loud, melodious clanking of silver against a wine glass sounded through the room, rebounding off the exquisite marble floor and continuously echoing for what was literally seconds but felt like eons, until it was quiet again and the reverberation ended with him. Always with him. Until a voice that I particularly did not want to ever hear again replaced the silence, calling everyone's stubborn gaze to shift from Sasuke to the Kage standing at his left. I scolded myself for being so caught up in the raven-haired man- it disappointed me that I had been so distracted that I had not even noticed that Sasuke had entered with the _Kage_ of all people! But I didn't scold myself too harshly; after all, nobody else had noticed either. They couldn't help themselves. They were moths drawn to the aphotic that was Uchiha Sasuke-

"Uchiha Sasuke," I looked up when I heard the mirror of my thoughts spoken aloud, startled into finding the source of where the announcement had come from.

My eyes found Sasuke's, on instinct more than anything. I found that I usually had the habit of looking for him whenever trying to find the source of something else. Chances were, if something _were_ to happen, it would happen around him. Things always did. Either because those things, just like everyone else, were drawn to him- or for another reason entirely- I was now sure. But his eyes were still on me as they had been when he had entered; probably wondering why I was so obviously in such deep thought, eyes turned inward towards something that nobody but Sasuke could see. He somehow knew how I thought of him, like he could speak without actually speaking- a silent meeting (I had never thought so hard or so much about anything in my life like the way I thought about Sasuke) and if he didn't like how I felt, he didn't say anything about it.

And the slightly mischievous smirk he still cradled with his lips was so familiar and personal that I couldn't explain the feeling it gave me other than to say that it was calm. But he looked away to the Kage at his left when said man was about to speak again and I forced my eyes as well to the Otokage; where I was _supposed_ to be looking, I chided myself once more.

It was silly of my but the Kage's hand sitting so familiarly on Sasuke's shoulder as he began his approbation of introducing Sasuke to the crowded room suddenly tore a hole in the calmness I had felt a moment before and I bit my lip nervously, wondering why Sasuke didn't shrug him off like he usually would have. And I realized with agley hesitance that I was jealous. I was jealous that this man was allowed to touch him freely in front of everyone; yet, even in Sasuke's dark room, with nobody else around, he would not even entertain the thought of touching me the night before. He had acted as if it were impossible for him to accept my offer of my own body. He had pushed me away with the hurtful insinuation of comparing me to his mother- I hadn't let him see on my expression then how much it had hurt and humiliated me to hear those words, and I was glad now that he wasn't looking at me anymore 'cause I was sure he would see it now.

I had to swallow the nasty taste of regret in my throat, sipping down most of my wine in my germinal, internal grousing that a sleepless night of depression and what-if's was inevitable now. I was, once again, afraid of being left with my own thoughts. They were starting to attack me again and I wished Brahm was there to grab my arms and keep me from drifting deeper out to sea, away from the safety of the harbor that I had made Sasuke into.

_No water in the ocean, no ocean in the water, no littoral sense in the world;_

My thoughts began to reel and I wondered sparsely if this was what if felt like to go mad. Was I finally losing my mind? The thoughts kept drifting further and further out to sea, away from my safe harbor- further from Sasuke, pulling me with them. Dream-Brahm's words- my subconscious' words- from the other night bubbled up from the water under me, steaming in the heat of the sun. But there was no sun….

_No sun on the water, no safe harbor-_

My cheeks felt numb and my fingers tingled. I tried to breathe in but my chest wouldn't move enough- I could feel my body standing, paralyzed and unmoving on the marble floor, but inside I felt a seizure take over as my subconscious prattled into my hear what I had always been ignoring up until recently.

_No safe harbor- no water in the rock, no rock in the water- no safe harbor-_

I couldn't stop it from awaking, an all-encompassing servitude to my own internal aggression. The guilt of everything I'd done- the faces of the Midarami's in the alley as I helped Sasuke kill them. The man's hand, grasping onto my shoulder as the light left his eyes- _no sun on the water-_ How he had fallen to the ground, lifeless, but I had not looked. I was too busy looking at Sasuke. I always had been.

_No harbor; further out to sea- drips of water where water never used to be- light where there was never any sun- no sun on the water; no water in the sea-_

"_It all doesn't fit, does it?"_ Dream-Brahm's words sounded far away, as if he was whispering them into the ear of the woman across the room, but they were meant for me, coming only for me. I still couldn't breathe. _"Integrated so perfectly…something unspoken, maybe even unknown, that is there- keeping him from slaughtering you in your sleep…only explanation…"_ I tried to look back to the Kage to find Sasuke again, to see him and get that unexplainably calm feeling back, but my eyes were shrouded by a film of unshed tears- like trying to see underwater.

_No water in the water, no rock in the-_

"_Trying to corrupt you and make you more like him so that he can finally kill you and get rid of whatever it is keeping him from doing so…Everything that had happened has revolved around the one fact that you are connected to everything- you worked at the asylum, you had a high position on the Board of Psychology, you were a person who could have been easily thrown away if something unexpected had occurred or you could have been used as a very important hostage if the police had been faster than planned-_

_No safe harbor; further out to sea. No Sasuke, no safety-_

My eyes were still blurry and I wanted to run to Sasuke. I wanted him to do something, just like he always did. I wanted him to make me feel like it was alright to be crazy, like it wasn't bad for me to stay in Sound with him. I wanted him to take back what he had said about me and his mother the night before-

"_I was precious once. I belonged to my mother…"_ Sasuke's words from when we were in the alley resounded in my head. _"She had brown eyes and small hands…with a rusty little attitude like yours,"_ his distant voice intoned.

_No safe harbor. No way out-_

"_Something that's keeping him from slaughtering you in your sleep. Something unspoken-"_

"_That would be similar to touching my mother-"_

_No way out. Nowayout, no way to harbor; no passage to shore; further, further out to sea- nobody waiting at the docks, nobody at the harbor. No harbor. No _Sasuke.

The thoughts trickled out of my ears and into my wine glass, making little _pitter-patter_ noises. I tried to think clearly, but I couldn't hear myself over the loud dripping in my glass.

_No harbor_…

But then, suddenly and without ward, I heard it; like a single sliver of sense out of the jumble- one moment of clarity after a long and exhausting drown in the sea. I tried to shy away from it. I knew that what was coming would change everything- would change everything that had happened so far into something sad and ugly. And I knew that this just might be the most important thing in my life; the most important thing I had ever thought or said or done; a thought capable of infecting the mind, infecting the body. And, even with all of its importance, I tried to push it down just like I had done with everything else before that moment. But it was stronger than me- it was stronger because Sasuke was stronger. I had been too busy watching him; too distracted by the sacrificial beauty of everything he was that was only seen in league with the beauty of dead bees, intricate and still pointedly sharp to the touch.

"_Like touching my mother,"_ repeated over and over and over-

Quiet. Blissful quiet.

I could have cried at the relief of profound silence. There was, again, the moment of clarity after a long and exhausting drown in the sea; and I could hear it, suddenly and without ward once more. Sasuke's reason for my continued existence.

And I wondered how I had not noticed it before…how had I not known something so important?

I was almost knocked down with the force of reality when it hit me, and I remembered where I stood- in a room with Sasuke and all of the people he had wrapped around his fingers. Everything that Sasuke had planned and worked for was surrounding me and I had helped him on his path of attaining it all. I didn't know if that should make me feel smug or terrified. But it terrified me that the reason why Sasuke kept me alive was because-

"This is the man that will be at my right hand from this time forward," The Kage stated, beginning his introduction of Sasuke. I couldn't tell if time had stopped and started again; it had felt like hours while warring with my own mind, but it was only seconds. And the Kage's right hand was still on Sasuke's shoulder.

Only seconds in a sea of hourlessness.

"I have asked him to join us tonight so that out merges in power can be celebrated properly," The Kage slid his hand from Sasuke's shoulder, and I let out a sigh of relief- though I didn't know why. The people in the room seemed to become even more entranced about Sasuke after finding out who he was- if that was even possible. The Kage could feel the crowd's curiosity and he took it with a slippery smile on his dry lips. He was showing Sasuke off- parading him around like a trophy that he had conquered. If only the Kage know just how wrong he was; Sasuke was never conquered, he _was_ the conqueror.

"I hope you all have a chance to speak with us at some point in the night. We are both very eager to take your offers into account," The guy really knows how to lay it on thick, I thought begrudgingly. I noticed Sasuke's smirk resurfacing from the corner of my eye and tried not to let my eyes falter back to him like everyone else's seemed to have. I didn't want to let myself get caught in looking at him- always looking, never allotted to anything more than that. "And, of course, Sasuke is now second-in-command of Sound-"

I couldn't hold anything on my face besides utter horror. Too many questions came into my already abused mind at his words. I glanced to Sasuke for an answer to them-  
When did this happen?  
When were you going to tell me?  
_Were_ you going to tell me?  
What happens now- does it change everything?  
Did you plan _this_, too?"

But he wasn't looking at me. His face was as smooth and blank as it was when we had met.

"So," the Kage's voice was proud and euphoric; he loved showing off his new trophy to the other nobles and commanders. Everyone who had power was standing on the same marble floor, hanging on his every word. Everyone who had power was appraising the Kage's new aide-de-camp, looking at Sasuke, sizing him up, knowing what the Kage had meant by "right hand man." They knew that Sasuke's job was the unspoken cruelty in the shadows of night; they knew that what the Kage was _actually_ doing by bringing Sasuke there; he was simply- and subtly- enforcing himself among the ranks. Somebody like the Kage would feed off of the fear and desperation of others, so showing somebody like Sasuke to them was one way of saying, "Don't fuck with me or you'll die."

Because the Kage may not have known the danger he was getting himself into by making Sasuke his syndic (for he had no idea that Sasuke was something far more sinister and irredeemable than a common thug), but it was obvious to the rest of us just what kind of person Sasuke was. It was evident in his presence, his aura, his tone- the deliciously malevolent glint in his eyes or the immovable set of his shoulders. Everything about Sasuke _screamed_ dangerous; but you had to be standing in the right place to be able to see it because he was sneaky enough, genius enough, to hide it well- to gain your trust then kill you before you realized that you were the turtle, bitten by the snake on your way to the harbor.

_No safe harbor, no passage out-_

The Kage shifted, raising his glass to the crowd in a fake gesture of alliance, "Please don't let his behavior rule your decisions," he gestured to Sasuke's facial expression- one of boredom and foreboding contention. "He may look rough around the edges-" I could have laughed at the Kage's description of the Uchiha and saw a certain cold twinge of the raven-haired man's face. I hadn't noticed before how rigid Sasuke was standing and guessed that he wasn't as composed as he was pretending to be- boiling just beneath the surface, just waiting until the moment he could get away from the Kage. "But I _can_ promise you that he will try his best to behave himself." The Kage was still basking in his own glory, but nobody seemed to be paying attention to him anymore. Their attention was tied and bound to the wide, almost feral grin on Sasuke's face- a grin promising things that nobody should want.

"Of course, Otokage," Sasuke shifted slightly forward, looking into the crowd and I was reminded of the party in Suna where he had lost control and ripped the Minister's throat out. :I will be on my _best_ behavior," he purred, wagging his eyebrows suggestively at me through the bodies in the room. The lights seemed to become dimmer- or perhaps that was just the mood that the Uchiha had produced- and nobody really knew what do say or do with themselves after Sasuke's underlying threat was clear- or maybe he was just playing around, I ruminated silently, because Sasuke always did have a kind of humor that was just as twisted as his mind- until the Kage broke the silence again and the lights went back to normal.

"Let us make a toast," Otokage raised his glass higher. "To merging states!" he announced and the rest of the room echoed, holding their beverages in the air before sipping politely and, just like that, everything was back to normal. The music began softly from the piano platform in the corner and everyone went back into their previous conversations, as relieved as I was that the Kage's speech was finally over.

I tried again to find Sasuke, but he found me. I felt him before I saw him- as usual. He held that superior air that he had when he had entered, finally languid not what he had escaped from the Kage's side, and I remembered how easily captivated I was at his _way_. His way of being so sure of himself that it almost made me sick. He still acted as if he _owned_ the damn place, and it relieved me- because it meant that nothing had changed after all. He was still Sasuke and I was still alive. Alive because- but I couldn't finish. Sasuke bore his gaze into me, turning in my direction and steps unfaltering as he made his way through the crowd; crossing the distance between us. It wasn't a distance of space or any palpable nature similar to it. It was a distance of time and memories and words whispered to each other- of things that were and things that weren't- of possibilities that were still stainable and could-have-beens. They were still attainable _because_ nothing had changed after all. _Because_ Sasuke was still Sasuke and I was still alive.

He stepped in front of me, looking down upon my face with those knowing eyes- knowing that I was thinking of him and looking at him because nothing had changed and-

"Are you alright?" His deep voice was quiet but strong among the buzzing of conversation around us. I gave him a tilt-of-the-head in response and couldn't stop the confused stitching of my eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" my voice was feathery and weak. I cleared my throat to continue, but he stopped me.

"A few minutes ago when I came in," he nodded to the door he had entered through as if I didn't know- as if _everyone_ didn't know. "There was an expression on your face; like you were almost _crying_," he said it like crying was a dirty word and he was appalled that I could possibly have emotions.

"I wasn't _crying_," I lowered my voice to try and mimick his- but failed impressively. "I was just-" I tried to come up with a lie to save face but he brought up his hand slowly, lightly glancing his fingertips against the lashes of the corner of my eye before holding his hand out for me to see the evidence on his finger, the small drop of moisture sat upon his skin in a perfect little bubble. I was afraid that he would bring it up again and make me tell him what was truly going on in my head and I didn't want to admit to him that I was pretty sure I was going crazy- but he dropped the subject abruptly like he usually did, placing his hands in his pockets and shrugging in bored reprieve.

"There are some people over there who want to speak with me. Care to join in?" his voice smoothed over the small space they were occupying and I was sure I would never be able to forget that voice again- or the person it belonged to. The man who was- without a doubt- unparalleled, un-bested by any other.

He placed his cool hand on the heated flesh of my back, leading me gently to the small collection of men and women in the direction he had pointed a second ago. "What am I supposed to do? I don't know anything about talking about business…"

"Then, don't do anything." He stated. "I plan on doing all of the talking. You just have to stand there and look good." He leaned in to speak into my ear when we approached the small group. "Whatever you do, don't act like anything is wrong. Stay inconspicuous the whole time." He ordered, and her smile wavered a little when he admitted this. She guessed she wouldn't like what he was going to be saying.

* * *

**I have put the previous author's note here as an extra attachment again so I wouldn't have to erase it and future readers can still use its information:**

**Author's note:**

Sakura is not as complex of a character as Sasuke is, but she is still pretty confusing to understand sometimes, especially since I can't exactly blurt out what is happening in the middle of her mind rants. I am forced to let you guys decide what is going on, but you will have to read a lot in-between the lines because we are dealing with two very mentally sick people. So, I'll help you guys out a little today haha! Sakura is starting to get the construed idea that it doesn't really matter what she does anymore because she is convinced she is going to die soon. The fact that she is convinced of this is why she does everything she does from now on (including killing people). It is the thing that moves and motivates her character forward. She will still hold onto her humanity and be the same old Sakura because it is the only thing setting her apart from Sasuke (good vs evil) but she will be doing some more risqué things because she is thinking "what the hell, might as well live my short life up to the fullest"…plus, she has the insatiable _need_ to know what's going on behind her back so she will begin to put things together (whether she is right or wrong in her assumptions. Whether she was right or wrong is a mystery that you need to guess at until the end) and she will begin to realize that in order to find out what's going on, she will have to let a little bit of Sasuke rub off on her. She will start to do things that she never thought she would do or have the courage to do, because she cannot relax until she knows for certain what her future holds and what her relationship with Sasuke really means (platonic or something more)…

Sasuke actually plans for Sakura to eventually figure out about letting a little bit of him rub off on her (everything he does and says has a purpose…always) He plans it perfectly and knows it will work. Actually, he had been molding her from the very beginning to think this because it will aid him in corrupting her. Every time Sakura figures something out or thinks something, she believes that it is her own mind that came up with it; but, in all actuality, Sasuke molded her to think it. He planned everything he did so that she would think all of these things and do them and believe that it was because of herself. He knows it will help his plan later on….he controls everything because he knows _everything_ about _everyone_. That is why his plan is so vast; he has taken every possible outcome and bit of information on every pawn and put it into fruition. And that is why his plan is so terrifying to Sakura and Brahm: they know nothing and he knows everything, but they are helplessly dragged along anyway.

Sasuke is so complex that it would take a looong author's note to express every little facet of his description. Basically though, to skim the surface, he doesn't have any humanity left. What humanity he _does_ have is linked to Sakura. He uses her as a means to copy her human qualities so the Kage and others don't notice how estranged he really is. He also keeps her around for other reasons that will be revealed later by Sakura when she starts putting more information together in her confused little head. Also, the thing that keeps Sasuke's character constantly moving forward (the driving force of his character) is his desire to see his plan come to a close and get what he has been wanting (which hasn't been revealed yet, but there are a lot of hints in earlier chapters that kinda' give it away. They probably didn't seem very important at first but they will later at the end when it is revealed). And Sakura thinks that Sasuke is trying to hide his plan from her, which is why she is trying so hard to figure it out on her own. But, in truth, I don't think he really cares (as shown by his complete lack of anger when she stole his book from the windowsill to read about Daisuke). He lets her do whatever she wants because she is the only person who he is "entertained" by and he gets a kick out of messing with her mind (and he also does not see her as a threat, so he doesn't see any reason to be cautious of letting her _think_ she is finding out what he is up to, because he doesn't think she will be able to figure it all out before he succeeds in his plan). Plus, she reminds him a little bit of his mother. Only a little though, not so much that it would jeopardize a relationship together.

Etcetera etcetera….blah blah blah

Brahm is a very important character, so I recommend really paying attention to the little parts with him in it. He is the water that keeps the islands connected and he will become really important later on in the end.

I am trying to connect the anime to the story so I will have other characters from the anime popping in every once in a while, but they won't have very big parts. They will mostly be for comic relief to get rid of some tension after an important plot point occurs.

I am sorry for anyone who likes Karin. I definitely don't wanna' piss anyone off or anything if they do like her because I'm sure you all know her fate later on.

If you _don't _like Karin, though, I am sure you will love what happens to her.

Oh, the sexual tension…..delicious and tumultuous, but still completely necessary until later. There will definitely be a lemon soon (a veeery tasty one) but it will be more than just a lemon. It will move the story into a shit-storm of craziness and eventually someone's downfall.

More talking…

Oh, yeah! Plus, if you like this story, I am sure you will like my new one I'm also starting called: "This Is For The Outcasts." Sakura is another very complex character in there but in a slightly different way. Obviously, if you have read a lot of my work, you could probably tell that I have a fascination with abnormal thinking…


	6. VI: The Lady Killer

I do not own Naruto.

This is just a little fun (since the last chapter was so serious, this has a lot more of Sasuke's humor and mind games than last chapter, just to spice it up a little). Not too serious, but adding up to the awaited end. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Natural Born Killers

Chapter 6: The Lady Killer

* * *

_And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder._  
_And I looked, and behold, was Death_  
_Saying to me, "Come and see."_  
_And I saw._  
_And Hell followed with him._  
_He went forth conquering, and to conquer._  
_For the day of his wrath is come;_  
_And who shall be able to stand?_

* * *

As the crowd spoke unbroken and no suspicion spread, Sakura could still not dispel her own disquiet fears. It was bubbling forth in her stomach, sickeningly churning and retching like waves of the ocean. _No sail on the boat and no boat in the sea._ Her pelagic thoughts came back, haunting her again. She pushed them back down (she had become very good at that, she noted). She couldn't risk having another mind-attack on herself and Sasuke noticing again.

"Ah, Sasuke," One man, dressed to the nines, held out his arm toward the Uchiha and Haruno as they stepped forward to the little circle of conversation. As Sasuke pulled her along more, the man placed his hand by Sasuke's elbow to hurry and guide him into the group, but didn't actually touch him. His hand merely hovered there, only showing heed. Perhaps even this man with his receding hairline and light blue eyes could feel the essence rolling off of the Uchiha in waves as well. He spoke confidently to Sasuke, but there was a slight tremble in his fingers that showed his apprehension. "We were just expressing our thoughts on the Kage's new energy plan. With all of the black-outs and power losses throughout Sound each day, something must be done. I was just explaining to Tsubasa here," he gestured to a man around the same age as himself and the man bowed a little to Sasuke in return. "That the power shortages should be fixed before we worry about any other matters that may concern the state."

"I respectfully disagree." Tsubasa chimed in and Sakura tried to understand what he said next but his words were all political, giving her no idea just where he stood on the issue. She soon decided that trying to follow along would only give her more stress than she needed, so she paid attention to Sasuke's facial expressions more closely and tried to copy what he was conveying instead.

"What do you think?" The words floated over the pristine champagne glasses in their hands and then it was silent, waiting for an answer. Sakura realized a beat too late that the man was speaking to her. He waited patiently as her face flushed and her heart picked up, not knowing what to say about the matter.

"Uh-umm…." Sakura muted herself after the unintelligible noise made its way out. Her fingers skimmed nervously along the rim of her glass as she tried to fumble through her mind for something to say. Sasuke seemed to notice this and gave her a sideways glance. '_I got no higher than a C grade in government class in high school, unfortunately, and have absolutely no clue as to what the appropriate way to engage this matter is- I don't even know what the Kage's power plan consists of_,' the pink-haired woman brooded to herself. If someone had said, "Do you believe in the 'genetic corporeal' theory that has recently gained a lot of attention- or would you side more with the traditional ideas of 'societal conditioning' in terms of how they affect the learning experiences between ages four through seven?" She would have been able to write a ten page draft over her answer alone- right off the top of her head.

"Sakura," Sasuke said, cutting into the conversation before she could make herself look like an idiot. He cleared his throat and began again. "Sakura is a psychologist. I am sure she and your lovely wife would not find this very amusing." His arm was still lightly around her waist, he hadn't withheld it from her after they had joined the group and his skin pressed slightly firmer into hers as if he were consoling the Haruno. "Let's not mix business with pleasure."

"I agree," Toned in an elderly man that had been quiet throughout the conversation thus far, looking bored. "Let us spare the ladies from our tedious arguing. The matter can wait until later to be discussed."

"Sakura. That was your name, right?" the woman beside Tsubasa questioned. Sakura guessed she was his wife, though she was half his age. The ring on her finger glittered in the bright lighting of the chandeliers above. Her smile was a little tight, too forced to be completely open or genuinely friendly. Her body was turned slightly away from the rosette psychologist, as if she was only sparing Sakura the attention to be polite (it would be rude toward Sasuke if she didn't greet the woman he seemed to be chaperoning). The Haruno nodded meekly. She gazed upon Sakura as if she could not comprehend why she was standing next to a man like the Uchiha. Sakura knew that she was barely above nothing compared to the raven haired male, but it still hurt to see the same realization on someone else's face, staring back at her; insulting her. "Sasuke and I were in a separate meeting with the Kage before we arrived here to the dancehall and he said that you were from Konoha and learned under Tsunade herself. What brought you from a place like Konohagakure to a place like this?" she seemed interested, but the way her voice inflected upward on some words unmasked the illusion of superiority she held over the Haruno.

Well, Sakura couldn't very well answer truthfully. It would have sounded strange if she said, "Because Sasuke asked me to."

It sounded insane in her own head, let alone out loud. They would definitely know that something strange was up if she said that. No person in their right mind would transfer from Konoha (with its beautiful forests and booming economy) to Sound (with its old, historical buildings and corrupt government officials- let alone the ever rising crime rate).

_Whoever said you were in your right mind, though,_ Sakura thought dryly, deciding quickly on the best lie she could think of.

"Tsunade felt it was best if I transferred here. I have enough experience in my field of knowledge and Konoha no longer needs me. Sound is a young city, however, and would certainly prosper from the help of more powerful allies. I am here to forward that kind of thinking." She tried to hold her head up high so that her lie would seem more real. The men nodded in understanding while the woman shifted on her feet, turning away from the group and stopping a random woman that was walking by.

"Have you seen Mai anywhere?" she asked the woman then walked off with her towards the way that the other woman had pointed. Sasuke's hand pressed against Sakura's skin again, trying to control her rising, uncomfortable nervousness.

"How about you, Sasuke?" The first man who Sakura didn't know the name of yet asked, taking a sip from his scotch glass. The ice jingled in the dark liquid as he shifted the glass to his mouth. Sakura's ears perked at the question. Certainly, it was a question that she had many times wished to ask- and, even more times, wished to know. "What's your story- your reasons for working under the Kage in such a position?" he shifted, facing more toward the Uchiha to show his interest. The man said 'position' as if he was only using the term as generally as possible. He didn't want to say what it really was that Sasuke was doing for the Kage. No one wanted to admit something like that- let alone say it out loud. They knew that Sasuke was dangerous, that he was a killer. And though that frightened them, it fascinated them more. It caught their attentions enough to make them throw heed out of the window and speak with him, putting themselves in danger. It would certainly be something to boast about to friends later. Talking to an assassin of the Kage and living to tell the tale; it sounded absurd, but it was logical enough to be true.

"It's an excuse I use so that I can impart upon some abnormal behavior," Sasuke started, making a strangely calm expression that she didn't quite understand, but was comfortable with all the same. And, somehow, she knew that she would be far from solving his next words. It was like she knew what he was going to say before he even said it but, at the same time, she had no clue what was going on-

"I have a need for homicidal behavior to an insatiable degree," Sasuke stated, like that was all that needed to be summed up as an answer. The few people left surrounding the Haruno and Uchiha looked perplexed for a moment before the Uchiha cut in again. "Did you know that I am thoroughly insane?" He leaned forward doing his eye-wagging thing that he usually used for only Sakura. She was slightly jealous that he had showed it to them instead. But they didn't seem to take him as seriously as she did. The first man who spoke and Tsubasa merely laughed for a moment, finding Sasuke to be rivetingly entertaining. Sakura didn't know what to do while everyone around them slowly broke into laughter, thinking that Sasuke must be joking. Sakura knew he wasn't. Sasuke looked slightly disconcerted, but perhaps perplexed, that they did not take his words seriously.

So Sakura had no choice but to laugh along as well, playing it off as a joke and nothing more- because the most important thing right now was to play along and act normal. And Sakura tried to ignore the way the Kage seemed to be watching her from the corner of his eye as he spoke to his own group of mergers in the corner. His cold expression was not as impressive as Sasuke's, but it held something different than the Uchiha's that made her blood run cold.

* * *

With a farewell and a comment about not wanting to waste anymore of Sasuke's time, the small gathering dispersed, nodding to the Haruno in respect for Sasuke before scouring around for more people to gossip about. The rosette psychologist took a moment to compare them to vultures, then turned her attention to the long table where the foods were being served. There was a loud blond man with bright blue eyes and strange marks on his smiling cheeks standing by the platters of assorted fruits and meats.

"What do you mean there's no ramen?!" he was hacking to a nervous-looking waiter, not concerned at all (or perhaps oblivious) to the fact that he was making a scene. The few people making their way toward Sakura and the Uchiha to try and get a chance of talking to Sasuke were momentarily distracted by the loud man with the strange, overly-friendly smile. Sasuke took this as his chance to make a break for it; he hated the unsentimental ranting of financial elites about as much as Sakura did.

While the approaching mergers were distracted by the blond, the Uchiha took a quick but graceful step back so he was standing on the border of where the mingling groups met with the dance floor. Couples spun behind him to the music, the fabric of the women's long dresses fluttered by, almost touching Sasuke's feet but never making it across the border to the crowd.

Sakura looked nervously to the Uchiha, wondering what he was going to do. She glanced back to the table where the blond man had been and was met with the embarrassing moment when you're caught staring at someone. On cue, his eyes met hers, as if he knew she was going to look at him. He smiled that wide smile when he saw Sasuke and probably realized she was the Uchiha's date. He waved like a buffoon over the crowd from across the floor. Sakura couldn't tell if it was to herself or the raven-haired man behind her, but her attention on the blond was broken when a rough hand was placed upon her arm and she was surprised to turn and realize that it was Sasuke's. Sakura looked up to his hooded gaze, but he was staring over her head toward the blond man with an annoyed expression.

"Don't talk to him," Sasuke ordered then tugged her arm lightly again. When Sakura stood rigid, not allowing him to move her, he threw the annoyed stare at her instead.

"Why?" she challenged, which he didn't appreciate much.

Another stronger tug on her arm brought her onto the dance floor with him and into the steady circle of his arms. He was suddenly too close for comfort. And as his fingers threaded through her own smaller ones and a strong arm settled across her waist, his touch was only light. It almost hovered upon her skin and she could feel his body heat taking up the space they occupied.

Sakura's eyes were at level with merely the base of his neck but it was enough to simply lift her gaze a little further to see the jut of skin in the crook of his neck moving steadily and slowly with his pulse. It was nothing close to her own erratic heart.

She turned back to staring into the crowds circling the dance floor, watching the couples move to the music. She would much rather stare back at the crowd than look up and be captured by his gaze again. She didn't need another incident like the one in the alley.

Sasuke cleared his throat, bringing her back to attention. The music ended, a new song almost beginning, and Sasuke was waiting for her to get into position so they could begin. As Sakura reluctantly raised her hand to his shoulder and laid it uncertainly upon it, she noticed he hadn't answered her question as to why she couldn't speak to the strange man at the food table. As the music started gently and Sasuke spun them into the direct center of the dance floor, she guessed it was because he didn't want anyone to hear his answer.

When the music grew louder as the notes became more complex, he took a breath, looking around them over Sakura's head and answered as evasively as ever.

"Now, now, Sakura," it was a low murmur but the words were drawn out. "Don't ruin the event with your usual senseless questioning. Why can't you just do as I say without fighting me? You know you're going to lose."

For a moment, Sakura was sure he was talking about far more than their argument. Was he saying the end was near? The end to his plan…? She wondered.

"Screw you, Uchiha," She whispered harshly, not accepting his threats. Of course she knew she would lose in the end, but she didn't want to hear that from him. She had yelled at herself about it enough for one lifetime.

Sasuke tightened his grip on Sakura's waist for a moment in reprimand, and then loosened it again. "Watch your language, Sakura," he chided and sighed. She felt the air from his nose hit her forehead and, in an effort to stop herself from simply leaning up and capturing his mouth, she tried to step back and distance herself from the temptation.

In response to her sudden distance, he hauled her back against his chest, still moving swiftly and unbroken to the music. Completely in control- "Control yourself." He ordered, pressing his lips to her hair, the rumbling growl of his voice vibrating into the skin there.

Once he was sure she wouldn't try to break away again he relaxed his hold enough to seem natural to any outside observers.

"Why do you continue to do this to me?" she whispered and tried to look anywhere but at their entangled hands.

The man in question ignored the provocations of her words and met her with some of his own instead. "Is this what you dream about at night, Sakura?" he asked, his lips still murmuring the sickly-sweet nothings to her ear. She tried to appear unfazed by what he was insinuating but she couldn't hide the hitch in her breath whenever the dance's movements brought him even closer to her. His hand slid from her upper waist to her rear to show her what he was talking about, kneading the flesh through her dress provocatively, lasciviously. She glanced around to make sure nobody saw, trying to step away but to no avail. The urging need to push him off was overpowering but she couldn't risk making a scene. Sasuke would not be pleased with that. The stable knot in her throat grew until she couldn't swallow or breathe. "Do you dream about me touching you like this?" his voice was deeper, speaking almost too quietly. "Or do you dream about more depraved things? Hmm?" It was a question that didn't need an answer. He was merely toying with her, she told herself. He already knew the answer to his own questions without her needing to speak. "I wonder," his hand wound from her rear to her front thigh, fingering the fabric. "How many nights you dream of me." He pulled slightly upon the elastic of her underwear before letting it snap back upon her flesh.

Sakura was about to pull away, jumping at the stinging sensation from the elastic and the sudden change of the music's tune. Sasuke used her momentum against her and immediately adjusted his movements to go with the upbeat notes. His hand, still intertwined with her own, tightened and his other hand left her thigh. She let out a breath of relief when she had room to breathe again but almost choked on it when one strong, sudden snap of power from Sasuke's arm sent her twirling out from him. She was sure for a moment that she would be thrown into the other dancing couples- but then his sturdy arms were pulling her back with a single tug of his wrist, bringing her body a mere hairs length from his, stopping her with a firm hand on her lower abdomen. She tried to expand her lungs to bring in much-needed air but her chest heaved with the force of the movement, the dark green fabric of the dress Sasuke had chosen stretched across her breasts, which barely brushed the rich darkness of his suit. Then he was spinning her away again- a battle of passionate wills; and he was winning. Dominatingly forceful in his position above her, trying to break her. Sometimes he nearly let go of her hand completely, almost letting her fly into the crowd with the force of his ministrations. But, just in time, he was tugging her back by the fingertips at the last possible second. He moved with the same single-minded ferocity he always did, his eyes burning at her with a little of the annoyance he held earlier, but something else that caused his lids to slacken slightly and pupils to dilate. Something more earnest than annoyance.

Sakura felt the fabric stretching across herself again and wondered if that was the reason he had chosen the dress. The skirts ruffled around them and her hair fell slightly out of place, tiny tendrils framing her high cheek-bones.

The song could only have been half way through but he only gave one more snap, pulling her towards him in his final movement. This time though, he didn't finish until she was plastered against his chest and for the few moments he held her there, not allowing her even the slightest amount of movement, she was surrounded by nothing other than Sasuke- warmth, pressure, and the feel of Sasuke's beating heart upon her connected chest, just as erratic as her own now. "Stop messing with me, Uchiha," her order was breathless and he narrowed his eyes at her tone, affronted by her using his last name to try and emotionally distance herself from him.

His breathing was quiet, however, only making her gasps for air more protruding. "Sakura," he purred like a feline stalking its prey. "Are you going to tell me what was wrong with you or are you going to keep lying to me?" his voice was smooth as he spoke and she chose to believe he was referring to her strange behavior and expression while the Kage had been giving his speech. She wasn't sure what she should say- should she tell him she was sure she was going insane?- That she finally realized why she was still alive? When she didn't answer he continued. "The look on your face was familiar. You get that same spark in your eyes whenever you discover something new. So, what was it?" He was too smart for his own good. And she had no other choice than to answer, but her increasing awareness of the crowd around them was disconcerting.

They were all watching him- all waiting. For what, she did not know. But Sakura knew she had to be careful—and so did Sasuke. They were far too deep now to give up and Sasuke was still waiting for her to gather her courage and say what she had discovered not even an hour ago.

Her breathing was still ragged, but shallow and quiet enough that its hitch was almost unnoticeable. "The reason you haven't killed me yet-" she stopped herself, wishing he wouldn't make her continue and everything could go back to how it had been before the celebration. But he stared at her until she took in a steadying breath to start again. They were still in the center of the dance floor, swaying back and forth more than what you could consider dancing- faces close so they could talk secretly. "It's because you…" she swallowed hard and glanced around again to make sure there were no listening bystanders. She turned back to him again: "You're going to kill the Kage, aren't you?"

He smirked and swayed their bodies to the right, guiding her hips with his. "Your powers of observation continue to serve you well." He complimented and she took his sinuous answer as affirmative.

She tried to swallow again, succeeding. The knot in her throat was gone and she could breathe again. His affirmation of her suspicions seemed to calm her more than she had been when she was left in the dark, not knowing the truth. But her aversion to the thought of killing the Kage was still strong, even with Sasuke's same hieratic face staring down at her. "Why?- Why kill the Kage?" she shook her head, not finding anything that could motivate him to do such a thing. "You're at more of an advantage while he's alive so-" and then it set in. "You want to be Kage." She said it like a fact instead of a question.

The Uchiha laughed loudly at her assumptions, sending a startled thrill through her at the unexpected volume after so much quiet talk. "Don't be so fatuous, Sakura." Sasuke castigated. "I would do no good residing over such a fallow place as Sound." He huffed, taking offense in the thought alone. "My goal is much higher than merely becoming this land's nomothetic."

"Then, what are you really after. What can you possibly gain from this?" There was no other reason for him to want to kill the Kage. If he didn't want to rule, what else could it be-

"Nice try." He uttered, giving her a wink. "I won't make it that easy for you. You need to figure things out on your own, little Sakura." He organized, tapping his finger affectionately upon her nose and she simpered softly to herself, knowing it was useless to try and get him to confess his 'master plan.'

"Alright," she strode left then right with him, feigning this way and that between the dancing couples. Sasuke was clicking his tongue, but stopped and looked down upon her face amusedly when she agreed with him. "I'll find out on my own then." She smiled, feeling stronger and more confident than she ever had before. Especially with Sasuke encasing her so securely, she felt like she could take on anything he dished out. She had survived so far, after all. But she knew the elated feelings were only temporary. When she was away from him again, the feeling of strength would leave her and be replaced with solitary insecurities. But, for now she had the stability of Sasuke in her grasp- even if only for a moment. So she had to make it a memory.

The dance they shared wasn't a peace treaty or a confession of affection like Sakura had hoped it would become. Rather, it turned out to be a compromise of sorts. Sakura, agreeing to continue with him. Sasuke, agreeing to keep her alive for now.

They wound their way out of the center, gentle banter.

"It's a deal." He answered. They moved together in silence after that until the Uchiha decided that something left unsaid needed to be present. "I'm implementing myself closer to the Kage- gaining more of his trust. So that means that you will be around him more often as well," he glanced down at the green eyes of the woman below him- the woman swaying in his arms. For a flicker of a moment he thought he saw the black eyes of his Mother instead, swaying back and forth with him on the scratched wooden floor of her old house. But the black was replaced with the green glow of Sakura's warm eyes and the pale, high cheek-bones she must have inherited from some Cherokee ancestor. He made out the apprehension she must have been battling with inside herself, but there was nothing he could do about that. What had to be done was going to be done, and Sakura was a smart girl. She would get over it soon. Spending more time with the Kage was a small sacrifice that she would need to take in order to unlock all of these secrets that she so desperately wanted. She seemed to realize this too after a moment and nodded with a firm, determined hitch in her brows, committing herself to what he was explaining. "I need you to try your best to act normal and not let the Kage grow suspicious of my actions. I intended to leave you out of this, keeping it a secret from you until you absolutely needed to know so that you wouldn't have to deal with trying to keep this secret from him. He is an observant man and will notice any frailties you have, especially if you are keeping something from him."

Sakura nodded again, looking forward at the base of his neck but seeing through him to something else. He couldn't guess what, but she must have been imagining hypothetical situations in her head, preparing herself for what would be happening next.

But, even with Sasuke's seeming confidence in her abilities, Sakura was not sure how this would work out. It seemed that the deeper in she got, the harder it became to keep up with Sasuke—to stay alive.

"We're just running around in circles, swallowing time and trying to catch smoke with our bare hands." Sasuke said, his gaze far away and voice faint- speaking about something Sakura didn't think she'd ever understand. So she didn't ask.

She was too preoccupied by the idea of keeping all of these secrets. Just the thought of hiding something from the Kage's penetrating gaze, from Sasuke's sharp mind….from Brahm's trust….

She wasn't sure she could do it. She didn't know if she had the ability in her to deceive the people she was surrounding herself with.

But when she was about to tell that to Sasuke, he walked away, leaving her in the center of the dance floor to whisper something in the Kage's ear in the corner of the room then leaving the dance hall altogether through the same doors he had entered from.

The Haruno woman stood unsurely, twiddling her toes and wondering what she was supposed to do next—scanning desperately for Brahm but not finding him anywhere. He must have been there, watching her. Sasuke had said he would be. Sasuke had said he would be protecting her, never leaving her side. But, then again, Sasuke had said many things-

The Kage spotted Sasuke's retreating back as he made his way out of the room, then glued his eyes on the pink-haired woman. She stared back, challenging him and it seemed as if the whole room stopped moving, the clanking of glasses coming to a halt, her heart pumping rapidly and the adrenaline she had become so used to flowing through her body. The instinct of danger bringing her muscles to harden and stand rigid.

He stepped toward her, his drink splashing only a little in his glass silently from across the room. She mimicked his own steps with one of her own, stepping back each time he moved toward her until her back was against the opposite wall. His head tilted and smile grew when her face paled, trapped against the stone. He quickened his steps, making his way through the passing people toward her stunned body and she tried not to cower against the wall. But then he stopped. Why, she did not know, but he stopped and his smile diminished to merely a small smirk. Then he lifted his glass and nodded his head in respect to someone next to her. Sakura glanced to her right, finding Brahm leaning lazily on the stone wall with his arms crossed loosely and hard eyes trained on the stalking man a few yards in front of the pink-haired girl. But when Sakura looked back to try and see the Kage again, he was gone. She scanned her eyes through the crowd to try and make out his flowing robes and strange hat, but he was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the loud blond from earlier with those strange marks on his cheeks was staring back at the Haruno from the opposite wall, mirroring Brahm's exact position and giving her a knowing look.

* * *

"Why do you want to leave so early?" Brahm asked as he placed the key into the ignition and started the car. Sakura slouched in the back seat and rolled up her tinted window, hoping Sasuke was nowhere in sight. She didn't want him seeing her leaving and stopping her. "Sasuke will not be pleased…" he warned half-heartedly, sighing out the words in a bored sing-song tone.

"I don't see any reason for me to stay." Sakura answered simply, keeping her guard up until they were out of the gravel parking lot. The rocks and dirt under the tires crunched loudly until Brahm turned left out of the lot's entrance and the tires met the smooth bitumen. "And I'm pretty sure that Sasuke just dragged me along because he wanted to annoy me. He knows how much I hate places and people like that. Not to mention, the Kage obviously wants something from me. I just don't know if he wants to kill me or talk with me. But I don't intend to find out!"

"I'm sure the Kage wouldn't have killed you in the middle of the dance hall," Brahm reassured. "And how do you know that Sasuke invited you just to annoy you? How can you be so sure that it wasn't because he wanted you there with him?"

Sakura could have laughed at his question, but ignored it instead. It was useless to think such things when it would be impossible for that to be true. Sasuke had even admitted himself that he was only doing it to get a rise out of her. But she couldn't help wishing that it _was_ in fact because he wanted to be with her there, as a real date. "If the Kage wasn't going to do anything to me, why did you have to show up and save the day like that?" she challenged, raising an eyebrow and waiting for his answer.

"Just in case." He said, shrugging.

"Well, that's totally reassuring!" she exaggerated sarcastically, throwing her arms around in a huff. It was quiet for a while.

Brahm wondered how Sasuke planned on getting home since Sakura had basically forced him to take her. But he ended up giving up on his wonderings when he remembered that it was Sasuke that he was thinking about. The Uchiha would find a way. He always found everything.

"Brahm?" Sakura called meekly from the back seat, interrupting Brahm's favorite part of the song on the radio.

He sighed, giving the volume dial on the dashboard a longing-full look. "Hm?" he egged her on.

"Do you know why Sasuke left so abruptly?" She asked then seemed to re-think her question, diddling her fingers through her hair and looking out the window, biting her lip when she chose to rephrase her words. "I-I mean," she started, removing her hands from her hair and laying them in her lap, looking down at her palms sullenly. "Where did he go?"

He took a moment to answer, staring at the wet roads in from t of him. It was drizzling lightly and the windshield wipers were moving slowly, making the usual mechanical humming noise they always did. "He had to meet up with someone to get some information. That red haired girl. She had something he needed." He tried to answer as shortly as possible but she didn't know why.

"Karin?" Sakura asked no one in particular and Brahm nodded. She remembered him saying something about meeting with her after the ball and agreeing with her over some quid pro quo in the alley before killing Daisuke. But, even though Sasuke's reason for leaving her was a good one- Sakura found herself hating him. She crossed her arms moodily and huffed. "Where is he meeting her?" she asked.

"Why? Do you intend to follow him there?" Brahm joked, but stopped laughing to himself when he saw the look on her face. "That would be a bad idea, Sakura." He warned when he realized that that was exactly what she was planning to do. She rolled her eyes like an indignant child, turning her head sharply and glaring out the window. "Besides, that won't be necessary." He made a left, onto the street they lived on and Sakura could see the familiar shape or her and Sasuke's home.

"Why is that?" she leaned forward, trying to make out more of Brahm's face through the rear-view mirror in the light of the moon.

"Because they're meeting at the house."

* * *

Sakura lay in her bed, still awake even in the early hours of morning. She had waited for Sasuke to come back with the red-haired man-eater that Sakura was growing increasingly jealous of but it wasn't until around one in the morning that they arrived. The Haruno woman stayed in her room, pretending to be sleeping with the lights off and door slightly cracked, listening in through the doorway to try and catch a little of their conversation. But all she made out was the clanking of glasses and the loud popping of Sasuke opening another bottle of wine. Their whispers weren't even enough for her to make sense of. All she understood throughout the entire hour they spoke was a few giggles from the Karin woman and Sasuke's loud laugh. She could almost picture Sasuke doing his eyebrow-wagging thing at the woman. She cringed at the mental image.

When she heard their footsteps coming down the hallway, Sakura retched herself from the doorway and plastered herself against the wall next to the cracked opening, trying to melt into the wallpaper and hide in the shadows as effectively as Sasuke had done in Daisuke's house.

Karin stumbled little by little, grabbing onto Sasuke's arm to keep herself upright. Sasuke, however, retained some dignity and walked the straightest line he dared to the door next to Sakura's in the hall. He didn't seem affected at all by the alcohol, even though Sakura could make out the sound of three bottles being opened earlier as they spoke.

His door creaked open and Karin sauntered in before Sasuke, slurring something that Sasuke didn't pay attention to. She was focusing too much on Sasuke's glance toward her doorway as he stood hesitantly in the light of the hall, a halo around his head from the brightness of the bulb. She was sure he couldn't see her, but he stared in the direction of her door for a few minutes, ignoring Karin in his room, until he shook his head and finally started listening to what the red haired woman was saying. He nodded at something she slurred and Karin's arms darted out from the darkness of the bedroom and into the light of the hall, grabbing Sasuke by his collar and guiding him playfully into the awaiting shadows. The door shut lightly behind him with a quiet click.

It was the very earliest hours of morning when Sakura lay in her bed. The sky was still bluish-black; the night fighting against the rising sun and Sakura realized that she hadn't slept much in the last week. Only a few hours at most. Sasuke was to blame. He was always to blame.

She listened to the birdsong outside her open window as the first rays of light filtered the darkness. She tried to listen to only the birds' melodic chirping and fall asleep, but ignoring the noises from Sasuke's own room was becoming harder and harder to do. The more she told herself that it was none of her business, the more impossible it was to fall asleep.

She could hear Karin's moans coming out of Sasuke's bedroom window and into her own open one. She guessed that his was open, too- not caring if anyone heard them. Not caring if Sakura heard them.

She realized that she _could_ have shut her window and rid herself of the evidence of what Sasuke was doing. She _should_ have shut her window, but she never did. Because it seemed more painful to shove it into the back of her mind than to present it plainly to herself- out in the open.

She laid there, torturing herself into listening to it all until she fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Sakura dreamed of Sasuke, the way she usually did.  
It was a Sunday and he was sitting on the couch in the living room, holding a scotchglass in his hand. It was empty and the ice was almost melted, slithering in the bottom of the clear glass. "Sakura," he called to her and she felt herself floating toward him, the way people usually do in dreams. She found herself stopped behind the couch, behind his left shoulder. "Did you know," he began, glancing to her over his shoulder then looking back blindly to the place he had been staring before. "That the odds were never in your favor?" Then he turned to her. And for a moment, his eyes seemed to glow red.

She awoke, more rested than she had felt in a long time and she made her way to her closet, pulling out a random hanger and putting on what was hung on it. The black jeggings and button down white shirt were her size, which still confused her even now. She didn't think she'd ever find out how Sasuke did the things he did- like how he seemed to know her sizes without ever asking her.

"Sakura," There was a knock at her door and Sasuke's indescribable voice made its way through the wood. "I need your opinion on something." He beckoned, walking away somewhere down the hall.

"Thank god. Things were getting a little dull around here." She sang sarcastically and hoped he heard. There was no doubt in her mind that he did when she opened her door and found him only a few meters away, resting against the wall and looking at her. "What?" she growled.

"Nothing." he smirked and walked into the bathroom, looking back for her to follow.

"What do you want my opinion on-" she stopped herself when she stood in the brightly lit room with him.

"Do you think I should stuff her and put her on display in the foyer? Or should I leave her here to rot?" Sasuke gestured to Karin, her body slouching in the tub, naked and covered in her own blood. "I'm thinking about cutting her in half. It seems like a fitting end for her." Her eyes remained open, staring forward at where Sakura now stood. The red-haired woman's neck twitched, jolting her head every once and a while. The gash in her neck seeped- the dried blood on her chest becoming re-moistened. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Her mouth opened and closed over and over- like a fish out of water. Each time she tried to speak, the amount of blood from the seeping gash doubled.

"Revolting." Sasuke stated dryly, glancing at the soon-to-be severed body laying limply in the bathroom with nothing less than grotesque annoyance.

"What have you done?" The roseate haired woman could not voice it any higher than a whisper, nor stop the tremble in her hands.

"Nothing," a pause. "Something…." he thought for a moment before changing his mind, finding a better answer and smirking maliciously. "Everything."

She felt his presence from behind her growing nearer as he moved silently across the linoleum floor. His reflection in the mirror above the sink was visible to the corner of her eye as he wagged his brows at her, leaning in and resting his chin on top of her head to look over her at the dying woman. She jumped at the new contact, his chest only centimeters from touching her back. "I know you weren't fond of her, so I did you the favor of getting rid of her. It was completely necessary, I suppose." Sasuke rationalized silently, gesturing to the woman's body and walking gracefully around her and up until he stood directly by the tub, leaning over the woman. Karin's eyes widened, gazing above her at Death incarnate. The look of complete hopelessness that Sakura could never hide from his crucially observational stare was not lost on him and he almost laughed at her soft nature.

"Why would you do this!?" the Haruno yelled, even though he had already told her.

"Well I can't have her running away from me," he was still leaning above Karin's body. The woman was still now and Sakura didn't know if she was dead yet or not.

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you 'did the nasty' with the _dead_ _girl_ in our _bathtub_!"

"Did what with who?" he played coy, pretending to not know what she meant by 'the nasty.'

So she merely did nothing but let out an aggravated growling scream and walked out.

"You never told me your opinion!" he called to her.


	7. VII: Things That Go Bump In The Night

I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Natural Born Killers  
Part VII: The Things That Go Bump In the Night

* * *

_We hunt you down without mercy-  
Hunt you down all Nightmare long.  
Feel us breathe upon your face.  
Feel us shift, every move we trace.  
Hunt you down without mercy-  
Hunt you down all Nightmare long.  
Luck runs out-  
You crawl back in-  
But your luck runs out._

* * *

Sakura sat in the kitchen, fully awake but sipping black coffee nonetheless. She could hear Sasuke in the bathroom making thumping and scraping noises. Whatever he was doing, she hoped he was planning on cleaning up afterwards because she sure as hell was not going to. She was curious enough to want to go and see exactly what it was that he was doing to the body, but smart enough to stay out of it. Surely, he was doing what he had said he wanted to do- probably chopping her in half. She hoped he wasn't serious about stuffing her for display, though, because that would be a little too strange.

"How are you planning on getting rid of the body?" Sakura tried to yell over the music from the living room. Sasuke had turned the classical music station on high again and the "Seven Spanish Dances" symphony was blaring through the halls of the house. It was for "dramatic effect," he had explained

He came around the corner into the kitchen, a large hunting knife in one hand and a red soaked rag in the other. His dress shirt was ruined, covered in the same red splatters as his face, neck and arms. "The finest way possible," He dodged any real answer and made his way to the sink to scrub his face and arms. When he was finished he threw the rag into the sink and began to strip down until he was wearing nothing but his boxers, throwing in the clothes as well and pulling a lighter out of his pants pocket before tossing them in. She tried her best to keep her eyes above his waist. "The best way to get rid of a body is to freeze it with liquid nitrogen, then crush it into a million little pieces so that it's as if it never existed." He lit the lighter, holding it under the pants until it caught fire then dropped them into the sink with the other clothes, ridding the evidence. "Even if someone comes across the remains, they would have no idea it was there."

"Do you have a license for nitrogen?" Sakura asked over her coffee cup as she sipped. Her words echoed into the glass.

"Nope." He clicked his tongue and watched it all burn.

"Then how do you plan on getting it?" she rolled her eyes at his familiar childish antics.

"I don't plan on getting it, Sakura."

"But you _just said_ it was the best way of getting rid of a body." She pointed out, emphasizing with a raised a brow.

The light of the diminishing fire glowed on his pale skin. He turned to her. "I did say that, didn't I?" he feigned ignorance, nodding to himself. She gave him another look. He shrugged. "I'm going to get rid of her a different way. You're free to join me if you'd like. You might even learn a valuable thing or two." He offered, hoping she'd take the bait.

"I think I'll pass." She waved him off and he frowned for a moment before turning on the water and washing the ashes into the drain.

"Would you change your mind if I said that it's also where I plan on putting the Kage's body?" he set out the bait again and this time he was elated when she took it.

"You know my answer." She said, giving in to his egging.

"Splendid!" he shouted jovially. "We have to make plans, then."

"What do you mean by plans?" she asked ruefully, simpering to herself. "I think I've had enough of diabolical plans for a lifetime."

"C'mon, Sakura." He leaned on the table, pouting to her. "Don't luck out on me now. Things are just starting to get interesting." He raised his brows and she cut him off by holding up her hand before he could wag them.

"You're in a good mood today," she noted, studying his seldom upbeat behavior. Then she sighed, giving in. "When do you want to go?" she asked, referring to wherever it was that he was planning on dumping the body.

"That's a good question." He stated and stood back, making his way to the door. "I guess, whenever I end up killing the Kage. I'm particularly good at self-policing. So this will be easy."

"Wait!" the Haruno woman called, running after him before he could leave. He opened the front door, ready to step out and into the car Brahm had waiting. "Are you going to do it now?!" she basically screamed.

"Of course not. I'm going to a meeting. I can't kill him _now_." He looked at her like she was inept. She noticed he had been attending a lot of meetings lately, hardly ever home. "The timing is all wrong-"

"You can't just leave a body in our tub to rot!"

But he left, shutting the door with a wave behind his back and a, "This sounds like a personal problem. Nothing some therapy won't handle."

The rest of Sakura's day was spent ignoring the bathroom at all costs and peeing in the backyard behind a bush.

* * *

Sasuke unlocked the door and silently made his way into the house. It was late and he was sure Sakura was sleeping. He didn't want to wake her, knowing that if he did she would only accost him with more questions.

Sure enough, as soon as he clicked on the light by the front entrance on the small coffee table, he saw the outline of her slumbering body on the couch, wrapped and tangled in a white sheet. She had probably been trying to stay awake and wait for him so she could finish her lecturing. He sighed, dragging his tired feet to the couch where he could stand over her. "Sakura," he said, not trying to be quiet but she didn't awaken. He called again and even shook her shoulder but to no avail. Then he spotted the empty bottle of wine on the floor and the glass next to it. "When are you going to learn?" he asked no one in particular, grabbing the bottle and glass and bringing them into the kitchen then returning to his spot at the couch.

The woman tossed in her sleep, groaning and stretching before becoming still again, the sheets tangling between her long legs. "What am I going to do with you?" he let out a breath and leaned down, skimming his arm under her knees and one to cradle her back, lifting her off the couch and carrying her to her bed.

"Sasuke," she whispered, slightly slurred, as he laid her back onto her own pillow. Her room smelt like her.

"Hm?" he removed his hands quickly but she grabbed his wrist. He had to fight the urge to pull away. He never did like being very close to people. She looked up at him and he saw the flicker in her eyes again, like there was something she wanted to say. He waited.

"Good night," she gave the wonton farewell and he walked away to the door.

"Good night, Sakura." He said, more out of manners than actually meaning it. It would be more entertaining for him if she had an awful night. She was more fun to be around when she was sleep deprived and agitated. Her door creaked as he opened it and walked into the lit hallway.

She turned and stretched again then settled on her stomach, her face pressed into her pillow and breath lounging upon the cool fabric. "You know I love you, right?" her words were muffled, but he heard them over the crickets outside her window. She always kept it open, which made him feel a little strange and nervous sometimes. If Brahm weren't close to the premises he would have made her lock it.

"Hn." He tried not to smile at her foolish question. "You wouldn't have come back to Sound for me if you didn't," He chose not to shut her door like he usually did- leaving his own open as well.

His bed was cold. He liked it that way. But for some reason he found himself sleeping on only one side, because it felt like the other belonged to someone else who was not there. And also because he still could not get Sakura's scent out of his sheets.

* * *

_Somewhere between the disappearance of the full moon and the rising of the sun, Sasuke lies on his back with his hand over his stomach, restless in his sleep._

_He feels dirty; he feels depraved—but, most of all, he feels a prurient wanting that he cannot place deep within his stomach. He feels seedy; he feels inappropriate—he feels something else boiling in his gut and coiling deep within his stomach, urging him to move his hips forward and back, forward and back. Continue, continue- wash, rinse, repeat- until his mind tires and he is satiated._

_He sweats under his sheets, tossing and turning in the feeling of heat and the womanly smell of his pillow- keeping him somewhere between dream and reality. Seedy, lustful images of soft-pink hair and hazy emerald eyes pinching in pleasure beneath him. Slender arms groping his shoulders and wringing his scalp; long legs and graspable hips wrapping and moving around his hips tighter with each movement. Her hot breath fanning his neck from ravaged lips where needy, feminine gasps and pleas resounded, vibrating against his skin and reverberating through his body to his groin._

_She moans out his name and his body quivers of its own accord, groaning and grunting into her hair- his fingers find the sheet next to her shoulder and clench for dear life. He can't stop his hand from locking to her hipbone and the other under the small of her back, guiding her firmly to him until he cannot possibly bring himself any closer without hurting her- even though she's begging him to. Every inch of slick skin rubbing and causing delicious friction until- until-_

"_Nh, Sasuke," her bare chest heaves as fast as her hips- to and fro, to and fro. "Please-" she begs sultry, airy words in his ear. Begging him for more than he can give her. She is too fragile; she is too innocent to be tainted by more than what he is willing to give. He keeps the most depraved things he wants to do to her at bay, restricting himself from true bliss but saving her from himself._

_The mere image of her beneath him threatens to release the coil building deep within._

"_Please- I need you-"_

_So he would oblige, unable to refuse her wishes- driving as deeply as he could bring himself until-_

"_Faster-" she would plead in sultry voiced moans. "Harder-" and he would oblige again- a predatory and dangerous primal urge to mark her as his own. Only his own. So he bites down on the soft flesh of her shoulder and licks away the sweat there. She tastes salty, musky, and he must fight the urge to taste more of it because he would only end up killing her otherwise._

_His flanks push him as deeply as he dares, looking down on her face- sticky, damp hair sticking to the pale skin of her forehead and hazy, iridescent eyes hidden behind tightly closed lids until her hips buckle lusciously around his and her head falls back, mouth agape in panting. "Oh, God-" But she doesn't finish before she is writhing and groaning brokenly between clenched teeth- a throaty, keening sound- into his jaw with each thrust of his hips, driving himself into her. Driving her to him._

_He is lascivious, he is insatiable—-and he never felt such god-awful pleasure, thundering through his body and borderlining precariously on pain—_

_Her hands grip his nape, his shoulders, his hair; with nothing else to grasp onto hard enough; and he doesn't stop himself from biting hungrily into the soft, pale expanse of her throat as he thrusts dangerously rough into her. She calls his name, tightening her muscles around him until he can't stop the guttural sounds from the back of his throat from emerging anymore. He smothers them into her collar with a grimace, moving animalistically against her, trying to attain an end to this delectable torture._

_With the sudden swell of male admiration for the woman beneath him- He wonders just how far his twisted mind plans on taking him through this fantasy. He has not the answers. The voyeuristic images flash in his brain, plaguing him to attain more. More of her skin, her lips, her- he cannot think of it. His thoughts cannot find homage with the confusing pleasure accosting his entire body, breaking him down and building him up. Building up until it almost releases, the pleasure and pain coming together at a blinding high and almost ending-_

But he wakes up. Unfulfilled. Un-satiated. Still under control of his mind's images and body's desires.

He sits on the edge of his bed, breathing heavily and letting the cool air of the room sweep across his heated flesh. He feels disgusted, he feels _wrong—_and he knows it's her fault. The small woman in the adjoining room down the hall, with her floral hair and bright peridot eyes. He would rather it be any other woman than her, because he was confused by the images in his dream. Confused as to why his mind chose _her_ to emulate in such a dishonorable way. But it wasn't just the images, and it wasn't just the action- it was the persistence of his mind telling him to perform those actions in reality.

Because he tried, but he could not hold off the building feeling in his abdomen, moving lower into his pants and constriction him.

He could hear the soft breathing of Sakura in the next room and cursed how it sounded too similar to certain soft gasps that he could not banish from his mind.

And before he knew it, he found himself opening her door and standing above her sleeping form. Her slender thighs were caught again in the thin bedding as she tossed and turned, unable to escape whatever evil dream was plaguing her.

He leaned in, close enough to feel her warm breath on his chin and considering whether or not to wake the woman lying before him.

But he was sure the lingering feeling in his body would eventually overrule him. Because the idea was in him now. And there is nothing more powerful and frightening than an idea, once it takes hold of you.

* * *

_She dreams again.  
She closes her eyes and sees the world Sasuke had created for her, then opens them and sees the same._

_She is in the warm water of the clawfoot bathtub, still a thin layer of bubbles hovering on the surface. And Sasuke is standing before her, lazily leaning on the end with his hands grasping each side, hovering over her feet and facing her dead-on without any shame that she is naked in front of him. He doesn't seem to even notice her bare skin, and she finds that she doesn't either. The room is so bright, so blindingly white, that he stands out almost frighteningly._

"_Sakura," he tilts his head, observing her. She tries to lift her head, but it stays leaning back against the porcelain of the tub, her elbows draped over the side and hands hanging over the water inside, her fingertips skimming the tops of the bubbles. Her head lolls, trying to lift again but she gives up quickly. She opens her mouth to speak, but he hushes her. "Shhh," he chides and removes his hands from resting on the edges. His fingers trace the edge of the knife in his hands. "Don't fight it," he smiles sinisterly. "Just let the darkness take over. It's much easier that way."_

_But she still tries to fight it, out of some instinctual urge to keep thriving._

_The water is becoming pink, then red the longer she watches it until she finds the strength to turn her neck and look at her hands- and the source of the red staining the water. The same red that was on Sasuke's knife._

_The same red leaking from the clean-cuts to her wrist._

_She lifts her wrist to her face, examining it with her darkening vision and the crimson liquid drips from her skin into the water, down her arm and into the water. The more that comes out, the number her body becomes until she can't feel her arm anymore, letting it fall over the side of the tub to hang in the air. It doesn't move again._

"_You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that." The raven-haired man purrs, but she can't see him anymore. Her vision turns black, the spots taking up everything until utter darkness. She can barely seem to breathe. So numb from the loss of blood is her body that she can't find the will in herself anymore. So she gives into the blackness approaching her and lets Sasuke's dark sounds of amusement slip into oblivion as she goes._

When she wakes, she can only half-remember her dream. She is lying on her back, her hair fanning the pillowcase and face turned away from the window. But she can't remember why she woke up either.

"Sakura," She heard a deep voice resound from somewhere near her, lulling her slowly from sleep. She ebbs back to reality. "Sakura, wake up." The voice orders gruffly and she groans, turning onto her stomach and sprawling her arms across the mattress. She feels slowly for her sheet, but it's at her feet from her tossing. Sasuke tries to ignore the noise and the provocative way her rear end is presented so innocently for his gaze; her clothes modest, but more fitting for a woman like her. "Wake up." She heard the voice order again, seeming to become agitated. The words were ground out impatiently.

"Why?" She sighed sleepily, falling quickly back to Slumberland. But she didn't receive an answer, only a soft nudge to her foot. She wiggled at the tickling sensation, only further adding to his predicament. Her foot was grabbed by warm, calloused hands and lifted a few feet off the bed until it was let go and fell with a thump against the cool sheet at the base of her bed. She whined and shimmied onto her back once more, rubbing her eyes to try and wake herself up.

"Sasuke?" she asked, trying to make out the blurry image sitting lazily on the railing and facing her at the foot of her bed (his posture looked familiar but she could only half-remember why). His feet rested upon the mattress, knees bent and elbows on his thighs to hold him in his slouching position. "What are you doing?" she yawned, holding her hand to her mouth and lifting her upper half off the bed, resting her elbows on the pillow behind herself to keep upright.

"Enjoying the view," The Uchiha tilted his head to the side, studying her thin nightshirt stretch over her chest and dark purple shorts contrast cruelly with her pale skin. But his gaze couldn't help but stop on her throat, noticing that it was even smoother than in his thoughts.

"W-what?" she stuttered, opening her eyes wide and starting at him as if he had grown another head. "What are you talking about?" he could almost hear the startled hammering of her embarrassed heartbeat.

Instead of giving an answer, he merely surveyed her again and she jumped forward for her sheet, trying to pull it over her body but his foot, resting on top of it, kept her from succeeding. He stepped harder onto the mattress on top of the fabric to stop her actions. She sank back to the opposite side of the bed, leaning her back against the bars and watching the Uchiha strangely, as if she did not trust him.

He clicked his tongue with a 'tsk tsk.' "Now, now, Sakura," he waved his pointer finger back and forth in disapproval. "Don't ruin my fun."

"Are you alright?" She ignored him, almost cutting him off, and asked. She thought about checking his temperature, but decided to stay against the opposite railing instead.

"I'm perfectly healthy," he clipped out like it was a joke- insinuating that everything about him was healthy except for his mind, his same expressionless face staring into her unsure one. "Are you not accepting my compliment?" he challenged in an overly sweet tone.

He watched as she seemed to make up her mind that he was toying with her and her expression became relieved, letting out a sigh and smoothing her face with a laugh. "Stop joking around, Sas-"

"You would look so unbelievable sexy if you were covered in blood. Did you know that?" he uttered plainly, a guttural noise sounded from the back of his throat as he was glancing down her figure slowly and suddenly standing impressively tall over her, his feet on each side of her body and looking down at her beneath him. She watched him lick his lips and bend forward ever so slightly, contemplating something with a naughty glint in his eye. "Especially your own blood." He revealed, sucking air between his teeth and growling to himself.

"The joke is over." She said, not laughing this time. "That's enough." The light of the hall cast a strange shadow onto her neck, just enough for him to make out the fast pulsing beat in the jut of her jaw.

"I think you know that I'm not joking, Sakura." He said so surely and shook his head at her, grasping behind her knees and pulling her to the end of the bed. "That's why you're so _scared_." He jerked her harder each time she clung to the bars at the head of her bed, breaking her grasp each time. But she grabbed for her sheets next, kicking her legs as raucously as she could to get away. "Would you stop being so difficult, please?" he tried to ask over her shouting for him to release her. "I'm not going to hurt you, Sakura," he picked her body up, turning her and throwing her back onto the bed. "I'm not going to hurt you," he consoled repeatedly, jerking her to her feet on the cold wooden floor, until she tired herself out enough for him to control her arms to her sides and force her face to look at him. She was breathing raggedly, borderlining a panic attack. "I said, I'm not going to hurt you, Darling. I'm just going to cut you into little pieces." He threatened, but she wasn't sure if he sounded serious or if it his depraved humor speaking for him again. And before she could ask what he was talking about, he threw her small body over his shoulder and stalked out of the room down the hall.

She pounded her fists and kicked her legs against him as much as was possible, but they were ineffectual. She had worn herself out with her earlier fighting and could barely bring herself to breath with her ribcage plastered against his shoulder the way it was. "Please-" she gasped out and choked on air.

He opened the bathroom door and stepped in calmly. "C'mon, Sakura. Don't _plead_ with me like that… It reminds me too much of a dream I once had," his eyes were bright with excitement and he bit his lip, making a strange noise in his throat at some memory his eyes were fixed on. "Do you want to hear about it?" he asked, playing coyly and licking his lips again as if he were truly interested, ignoring her sobs. She shook her head. "No?" he had the nerve to look affronted. "Well, that's rude. Maybe we should work on your manners."

She tried to speak, but her breath kept hitching and causing her to cough. When she was finally able to focus her mind on her lungs she was almost knocked off of his shoulder with the power of Karin's stench. It had only been a day and a half that she was in the hot bathroom, but the knowledge that her decapitated body was within spitting distance somehow made the stench worse. Sakura tried to hold down the bile rising in her throat but couldn't stop the dry heaving once it started.

"Eugh, that's disgusting." Sasuke commented, dropping her to the floor so she wouldn't get any on him. Her hip slammed hard against the linoleum with an ugly smacking sound before she could stop her fall and she cried out sharply. "I'm not cleaning you up afterwards if you end up puking all over yourself." He shut the door, locking it and turning to watch her writhing beneath his larger form.

"Why are you acting like this?" he could barely make out what she was saying through the roughness in her sobs.

"Don't be all hysterical, Love," he simpered softly, squatting next to her and resting his elbows on his knees. "It's very unattractive."

She wondered briskly where Brahm was and why he hadn't come bursting through the door yet. Sasuke caught her gaze on the door and shook his head at her. "Don't get any ideas, Sakura," he warned. "I don't want to get angry with you. I just want to test something out. An idea popped into my head and now I can't get it out." He stood up and thought for a moment. "Don't you hate that?" he asked with an open expression. "It's like when you hear a song and it keeps repeating and repeating-"

She tried to look anywhere than at the body in the tub, covered by the dark sheet still. But the only other things in her line-of-sight were Sasuke or the mirror on the door, which showed her the reflection of both the Uchiha and the body behind him anyway.

"And repeating and repeating until you just can't _stand_ it anymore!" He turned on the cold water in the tub quickly, letting it fill as he spoke. "Do you know what I'm talking about, Sakura? Or am I making no sense?" he was talking fast, jumbling his sentences together and using a wide array of upper and lower inflections, making his questions sound like statements until she couldn't understand what he was talking about anymore. She tried to move her hip and make sure it wasn't broken, relieved when she could move it with only minimal stiffness and aches. She turned over to her other side to look at the damage; a large purplish-blue bruise was already forming on the sensitive skin. She could feel her elbow from when she landed bruising as well. "Am I boring you?" Sasuke asked suddenly, noticing her lack of paying him attention and dropping fast to his knees until he was very close to her face, looking deep in her eyes for an answer. The water in the tub was only centimeters from overflowing until he turned and twisted the knob, turning it off.

"Yes!" she yelled, finally answering his question challengingly and dragging herself toward the door to get as far away as possible.

He huffed blowing his hair boyishly out of his face. "So un-ladylike," He sauntered over and lifted her by the waist, bringing her back against his chest and picking her feet off the ground as he walked toward the tub. The water licked the edge's brim of the clawfoot bath and Sakura couldn't remember what made it so familiar, but it was frighteningly haunting all the same as if she had seen it somewhere before. Karin's body was completely void of blood. What blood she used to have had been pooled in the tub around her and the water Sasuke added only made the red liquid deeper. The Uchiha launched Sakura's body into the air, holding her above the darkened water until her toes skimmed the surface. He seemed to have no trouble with her weight as he did it, bringing her in and out of the icy liquid playfully.

"Stop!" She screamed for the first time as she felt the water splash against herself, the water glancing upon the sheet and making it fall off of the mangled body- Karin's blood staining her skin. She jerked so ferociously that Sasuke had to double her back against his chest again with her feet in the water. She elbowed him in the ribs but it had no effect other than a grunt from him. In return, he lowered her more into the liquid ice. "Stop-" she choked on her own bile as she felt the squelchy remains of Karin's organs at the bottom of the tub touch her feet. Her legs jerked and kicked with all her strength, slamming her shins into the hard porcelain and sending waves of water onto the floor and walls.

Then Sasuke was unusually still, holding her arms down at her sides and whispering in her ear over her shoulder. His voice was husky, confusingly so. "Now, Sakura," his breath was calm, his face collected. "Do you still want me the same way you did only a few nights ago?" he teased and she wondered if he was doing this out of some sick enjoyment for himself, or if he were trying to teach a lesson. Though she wasn't sure who the lesson was meant for- her or himself. "Do you still _love_ me?" he spat the word back at her, trampling its once beautiful meaning into the dirt.

"No!" She cried, heaving sobs and tasting tears on her dry lips. But she had known she was lying, and he had too.

And he seemed more entertained by the lie than if she had been telling the truth. "That's a good girl," he cooed and looked to the water in wonderment. "But I still need to see if I was right or not." He looked back to her, his eyes hazy and grip twitching around her waist and arms as he looked down to her soaked feet and back up seriously. His cold eyes met hers, noting more than pleading in her own and determination in his. "Red is definitely your color, Hun. So why not try more of it on?" he raised his brows, waiting for an answer but she could find none to give.

Then he let go; he released her, her arms flailing toward him as the icy waters enveloped her body and she went under, choking on the crimson surrounding her and her pores screamed shut from the shocking temperature. She tried to come up for air, but only could get in one small gasp before his hand wound to her neck, forcing her under again. Her hands fought against him, but he was stronger. She struggled with all her might, but he was able to keep her down with one arm. Her nails drew blood against his forearm, scratching and clawing for support until he dragged her to the surface- letting her take in a few gasps and dunking her under again, and again, and again until her lungs were becoming too filled with the bloody water for her to get enough oxygen. So he turned her onto her stomach, standing in the water over her with her waist securely in his hands until she coughed it all out of her lungs and back into the tub. Her hair matted to her face and neck, dripping water almost the same color as Karin's hair had been.

He moved it tenderly back into place and wiped her face with his shirt until it was the only part of her skin not marred with the water's color. She was too exhausted from her struggle and too winded to protest, which he didn't mind. "You see what you make me do, Sakura?" he joked half-heartedly, but she wasn't listening. Her ragged, scratchy breaths were too loud for her to hear over. "You make me crazy sometimes, you know that?" he spoke almost mutedly, wringing out her hair until it was almost dry and she was able to breathe normally again. He frowned when he realized that the feeling in his abdomen was still there. He had expected this to take care of it- to make it go away by distracting himself with her misery- but it was still there and still growing as she heaved against him, covered in the blood he had imagined her covered in earlier. It was beautiful, it was alluring—it was the sexiest thing he has ever seen.

So he had nothing better to do than drag her body out of the water and sit her placidly on the toilet, her form shaking rapidly as her body tried to regain its correct temperature but complying with his every will so she could avoid punishment of any form. She was still sobbing to herself, flinching away whenever he moved too quickly so that he had to haul her into a sitting position again.

He clicked his tongue, keeping his hands in appropriate places. "Sakura, Sakura," he sang deeply. His hand raked through her hair, moving it from her cheeks and he ignored how it resembled her sweaty face from his imagination. He sighed, blowing out a breath and raking his hand through his own wet, disheveled hair as well. "You have _no_ idea what you've gotten yourself into."

"Get away from me!" she hammered through chattering teeth and reeled backwards away from him, forcing him to replace her in her seated position. "You were trying to kill me!" she cried brokenly, fighting against his hold and scratching his arms more. He rolled his eyes, not taking her accusations to heart.

"If I wanted to kill you, I would have." He lectured informantly. "I just thought you'd appreciate a makeover."

"You're lying-" She cursed, but he had plastered his thumb roughly to her mouth, squishing her lips to her teeth.

"Is it really that hard to understand, Miss Haruno?" he asked but she had chosen that moment to thrust all of her weight into a well-aimed punch to his jaw, sending a few spatters of blood from his lip onto the floor where it mingled with the spilled water. "Shit," he muttered, turning his face away and whipping the back of his hand across his bottom lip, pulling away to reveal a good amount of his own blood. He smirked and watched from his peripheral as she darted to the bathroom door, dripping noises following her and fumbling with the handle. But the lock wouldn't budge.

She furiously jangled the knob over and over again until she gave in, slamming her fist against the wooden door with a sharp, frustrated cry. The mirror hanging on the back of the door rattled, almost becoming unhinged from her pounding. "Are you looking for this?" he cooed, pulling a small set of keys from his pocket and jangling them in front of her face. He watched the hope fade from her eyes and simpered to himself. "Now, Love, don't look so sad," he pouted childishly. "I'm just giving you what you wanted. You could thank me, ya' know?"

"What the_ fuck_ are you talking about?" she gasped raspily, trying to catch her breath and control her blubbering but when he stepped forward she turned back to the mirror, avoiding him and jerking furiously on the knob again to no avail. She flinched back away from the handle when his palm boomingly slammed into the wood next to her face, the doorway making splintering sounds beneath its surface as she flung her arms away and cradled herself for some kind of self-consolation.

"You know what I'm talking about, Sa-ku-ra," he purred her name in her ear, pressing her against the door with his chest to her back and encasing her with his hands on each side. "You were practically bedding me for it in my bed the other night. Don't you remember?" He leaned in closer. "Or should I refresh your memory?" His hand found its way to her hair, moving it from her neck and she felt a trail of warmth from his tongue run up her skin, tasting her and Karin's blood.

"I didn't ask for this!" She writhed, pounding her svelt body to his larger, imposing one and coming up empty handed.

"Of course you did, Sakura." He grew tired of her struggling and turned her to face him, giving her a silent warning to knock it off. "Must I repeat myself?" he took her lack of an answer as affirmative and took a deep breath. "I said it before so I must say it again. My exact words that night were: "You don't know what you're asking for from me. It's a lot more complicated than just asking me for sex."" He quoted himself so surely and she was accosted with the memory of those same words. His warning had been real, but she hadn't understood at the time why he was telling her those things. "So, you see, Sakura- This is _exactly_ what you were asking for. You just didn't know it."

"Then I change my mind." She whispered, looking everywhere instead of at his face.

"That's against the rules. You can't change them once you've already started the game. And the game started the moment you got off that bus and joined me again." His voice held no flaw or blemish, knowing he was completely correct, in his own construed way. She tried to search her mind for a way out- for an excuse that she could use against him- but she found none.

"Why are you so persistent now when you were so against the idea before?" She questioned and suppressed the thrill through her when she realized what they were really talking about. Sasuke was demanding the very thing he had refused from her only a few nights ago. She didn't know if she wanted to inflict him with multiple stab wounds for toying so much with her mind. She knew that was all this was. A game. And Sasuke wanted to win. Everything that he did was for his own benefit- either that or because he wanted something-

"Because I am selfish and I get what I want." He was so sure again, like he had rehearsed the conversation and was merely playing it back to her. "It's kind of funny, actually," he chuckled to himself, rubbing his eye in delight. His eyes were darker, more hazy as he looked at her and she wasn't sure if she liked it yet or not. "Boys always want what they shouldn't have." His hands were creeping across her waist. She tried to stop her breathing from accelerating, but he was so close that he wouldn't miss anything with his keen eyes. "And I, Uchiha Sasuke, salivating over a woman with a skinny ass and small chest." He marveled the irony as if it were some ancient ruin worthy of his praise, looking down her and back up. "I guess it's not as bad as I'm making it sound." He convinced himself, running a hand through the nape of her scalp and grabbing the hair there, turning her head to the side and licking the skin once more. "Plus, you taste much better than that red-haired woman."

She pushed him away but he only pushed back, ramming her backside into the mirror on the door and breathing almost as heavily as her. The slight thrill through her as how much she was effecting him brought a shiver through her abdomen and he took it as initiative to continue. "You…" Sakura tried to reign in her thoughts, but the alluring possibility of finally having what she had wanted for so long was almost too hard to overlook.

"I?" He asked, tracing the shell of her ear with lis lips.

She wondered where she had been going with that sentence, scouring her mind for the right words. "You were drowning me." She tried to accuse, but her voice was lenient, and she hated it.

His hand found the back of her thigh, forcing her off the ground and her legs to wrap around him. She rammed into the mirror again. "I've done worse things to you before. Don't take it personally." His teeth attacked every inch of her shoulder, licking the blood clean from her skin.

"Mn-you-" She tried to hide the moan with words, but he smirked against her in triumph. "Threw me into a tub of blood." Her voice was anything but accusing again and she cursed to herself at her lack of anger.

"I did, didn't I?" he played innocent and licked another red trail off of her skin for effect. "But the thing is, Sakura," his hand found her chin, shoving her face up to expose her smooth neck for his gaze. The rough stubble of his chin scratched her skin. "That I think you liked it more than you'll admit to yourself."

She shook her head as much as she could in his grasp. "Nope."

"Oh, I think you did." His hips ground into hers, creating the friction he had been imagining for the last few hours and the noises she made only proved his words true. "I think that it might have even excited you-"

He didn't finish his thought when he heard the jingling of the keys in her hand that she jimmied from his pocket. She pouted mockingly to him. "Is the great Sasuke Uchiha so distracted that he was caught off his guard?" he threw the keys a glare, sighing to himself and the ruined mood that he was trying to create.

"Put them down, Sakura." He ordered. Delight swept through him when she obliged, for the first time, without so much as a hesitation. "You can have them back when we're done here," he breathed against her chin, but it was the Haruno who leaned in, stealing the first kiss and grinding herself closer. The noises creeping from the back of this throat- either a groan or a growl, she didn't know which- but she stopped trying to think about it when she tasted the metallic of blood on his lips; and his tongue once he forced her mouth open in submission, and she found no more fight in herself- wanting more of it as he shimmied her body onto the wet floor, her clothes and hair becoming soaked again.

He wasted no time covering her body with his own larger form, lording over her and blocking out the light of the ceiling. It haloed around him when he lifted his head to look down on her face. His perfect features were unblemished; his pale skin almost white, mouth dripping red from the blood he consumed from her skin.

"Are you sure abou-" He stopped her questions with a smoldering, forceful kiss, mumbling something about her being 'annoying.'

But it wasn't soon until kisses and guttural declarations weren't enough- not as good as bare skin and heated contact.

Sakura clung at the collar of his shirt, tugging and pulling until he lifted his arms, allowing her to pull it off. She threw it to the side, hearing it land somewhere on the floor with a wet sound but he waited not a second more before he was pulling the thin layer of her silk nightshirt, peeling its soaking folds off of her skin and shoulders with his teeth before becoming impatient and pulling it off in a breath's time, plastering his hands to her body. Her stomach, her back, her ribs, the swell of her chest- until she wanted more than groping hands and panting lungs and comments of lustful thoughts.

He felt her agitation, maneuvering himself to hover over her and snaking an arm behind her. His rough hands found the elastic of her shorts, fisting the material at the waist of her rear and tugging them down her slick legs and hips in one fluid motion until he was met with no other barrier than her panties.

"Black?" he commented on their color, burring his face in the neck he had become so attached to. She blushed at his frankness. "Honey, you shouldn't have." He teased mockingly, pulling her to himself and moving forward until the delicious friction was there again, building but not enough sated through his jeans. He groaned in lament, cursing the restricting fabric of his pants.

The woman beneath him panted heavily, every movement from her bringing splashing sounds from the flooded floor. "Sasuke. Hurry up-" she pleaded brokenly between breaths.

"Patience is a virtue, Sakura," but she paid him no heed, leaning up and fumbling with the button and zipper at his waist, only getting the button undone before he was removing her hands and tugging the thin fabric of her underwear to the side, pushing her legs wider and positioning himself between her thighs. "Hurry-" She pleaded again brokenly, writhing in the water on the tiles and sighing in frustration. He couldn't help but smirk at her impatience.

She felt the heat of his mouth, the scraping of his teeth, the scratch of his stubble on her again. The sound of his pants zipper sounded and his arms snaked under her, bringing her hips off of the ground, one hand grasping her hip. She could feel him grabbing the bruised flesh, but it didn't matter. He found the angle he wanted, growling when she gave his hair a particularly hard pull. She felt him grind against her, teasingly torturing her until she was begging for more of him- until she was pushing her hands into his boxers to try and force him to obey her whims. His head fell to her shoulder, eyes closed tight, when she grasped him through the fabric. "Sakura-"

A loud vibrating noise rang out and a light shone through the dark fabric of his jeans pocket. He ignored it, panting against her flesh as she continued to move her hand against him, about to pull him from his boxers.

The vibrating sound ruptured the air again, distracting Sakura from what she was doing. She stopped and the Uchiha groaned, moving his hips forward to try and coax her to begin again. The loss of her movement was enough to almost bring him pain; he grimaced when the phone vibrated again.

"Ignore it." Sakura decided, hooking her arms around his waist and pressing her thighs to him in preparation for something to happen, but his shoulders tightened in annoyance and he let out a sigh.

He gave the phone in his pocket a dark glance from the corner of his eye. Sakura, realizing what he was about to do, tugged his shoulders back down as forcefully as she could. "Don't you dare!"

But the words fell on deaf ears, the dark haired man pulled the phone from his pocket and held it to his ear, standing and leaning onto the door. "What do you want?" he spoke with barely controlled fury into the speaker, his jaw clenching from the venom of his voice. "Who authorized that?" he growled, pulling at his hair in anger before sighing. "I'll be right there…"

"What?!" The woman on the floor yelled, standing up and preparing to slap him. He ended the call and shoved the phone in his pocket, looking dejectedly at the woman with a guilty smirk and a shrug.

"Duty calls," he gave her a military salute and unlocked the door, walking out and changing his clothes in record time before leaving without a word.

Shame, embarrassment, horror, and confusion filling her mind and poisoning her thoughts. Nothing that happened made any sense.

Just who was Uchiha Sasuke, anyway?


	8. VIII: Ties That Blind- Lies That Bind

Natural Born Killers

Part VIII: The Ties That Blind – The Lies That Bind

_I am a lone wolf-  
A beauty and a beast;  
Both hunter and hunted,  
Soft tongue and sharp teeth._

_I'm toned from my travels,_  
_Yet raw from this road_  
_As I drink from storm puddles_  
_And the stories I'm told._

_Help me figure this out_  
_Help me figure you in._  
_You are a shadow to me_  
_And I echo when I sing._

Once, while Brahm had been doing a job for Sasuke, the Uchiha had stayed home and made cinnamon apple pie, telling Sakura that it was a special occasion. He never did tell her what the occasion was. But it didn't matter anyway. Because this wasn't one of her dreams about him where she would wake up and regret that it wasn't real. It _was_ real- even if it was a one-time, secret occasion.

Brahm returned all too soon, ordering Sasuke away to see the Kage. The Haruno, to show her dislike of his leaving, fed the pie to the stray dog in the back alley. When Sasuke returned home, he guessed what had happened and stared at her blankly with one brow quirked in beguilement. From then on, she referred to that expression he made as the 'apple face'.

* * *

The house was silent, the light humming of the freezer coming back to life was the only indication that she wasn't sleeping as she lay on the couch with her arms thrown exhaustedly across her eyes. It had been three days since Sasuke had left and he had not returned, only sending Brahm every once and a while to check on her. The only company she kept for the last seventy-two hours was the rotting body in the bathtub and a steady intake of alcohol each night to help her fall asleep (the only problem that seemed to hinder her after that was _staying_ asleep through the nightmares). Whatever Sasuke was doing, it was obviously more important than cleaning up his mess. And she was too afraid to ask Brahm for help because she was sure he had no clue that there was a woman's body slowly decaying in the murky waters of the clawfoot washbasin. She didn't want him to know, she realized. It seemed to be Brahm's job to take care of her when Sasuke was away and to know everything that Sasuke _wanted_ him to know. So if he wasn't aware of the body that meant that Sasuke didn't want him to know about the body. That was enough motivation for her to not say anything. Sakura didn't need to get on the Uchiha's bad side after what had happened before he left. She tried not to think about it, but it kept popping up in her head.

"It didn't mean anything." She repeated to herself. "And you're lucky it didn't go very far because you would definitely regret it." She tried to lecture herself but the other half of her brain- the half that was desperately in love with the callous man she found herself more and more terrified of- wasn't listening.

So she distracted herself with a little more reveries- returning to memories of past conversations with him to try and figure out what the hell was going on. But the longer she lay there mulling everything over, the more obvious it became that she was never going to figure him out. She gave up hope after the first day and decided that she would have better luck just asking him than trying to unravel his words and body language. She snorted. _Yeah, like that'll ever happen. Even his body language is as cryptic as his words._

She ran through the scenarios again, picking and poking everything the Uchiha had ever said to her and analyzing any hidden meanings they might have had.

"_My goal is much higher than merely becoming this land's nomothetic."_

"_I don't joke about the classics."_

"_It's an excuse I use so that I can impart upon some abnormal behavior."_

_"You look like a lost little kitten."_

"_Sakura here is more intelligent than most men you could probably find."_

"_I'm not afraid of death. What's it gonna' do- kill me?"_

"_A few seconds is all I need, Sakura."_

"_By the way, you have a very nice ass."_

"_I have a need for homicidal behavior to an insatiable degree. Did you know that I am thoroughly insane?"_

"_If I wanted to kill you, I would have."_

"_I was precious once. I belonged to my mother."_

None of it seemed to fit. There was nothing leading her to understand why he was planning on killing the Kage or what the Minister of Suna had to do with anything. Or why he needed her of all people to help. Or why he needed Brahm. Or why he had been M.I.A. for the last three days.

What was he doing? Was he with the Kage? Did he know that leaving her alone for so long wasn't healthy? She didn't know how much longer she could last until she cracked.

The only thing keeping her together was a single conversation that she could not decipher or disregard, no matter how many times she ran through it:

"_Once upon a time, in the middle of the day, there was a sea turtle and a rattlesnake. You see, the rattlesnake sauntered up to the sea turtle and, with a hissy little voice like yours, he said, "Green Turtle, may I offer you a proposal?"  
But the turtle was wary of the stranger because she had just laid her eggs in the sand and was vulnerable to enemies. She was also small and weak compared to him, you see, and had a way of _always_ getting herself into trouble with the wrong kinds of people. But, still, she replied to the snake cordially saying, "Yes, you may," so as not to seem rude.  
So the dangerous rattlesnake bowed his scaly head and played nice. "I hear that you have just laid your eggs, so I am guessing that other turtles are laying theirs as well," he began softly. "I was going to offer you a deal."  
"What deal?" she asked, intrigued by his_ unusual _nature.  
"I will not eat your eggs if you will bring me across this gulf of ocean to the other side where I will find a different meal. I have heard that giant turtles lay their eggs on that beach and I would like a larger set of eggs to dine on," He explained good-naturedly.  
"That sounds nice, but how can I be sure you will not kill me while crossing through the water?" she asked, hesitant.  
"Silly she-turtle; I will do you no harm," he laughed. "If I killed you while crossing, I would drown and die as well."  
The turtle lady decided that the snake's reasoning was sound and agreed to accompany him to the other side of the gulf.  
They set out on their journey as the sun was setting in the evening and the waters were calm and fare. The turtle's back was comfortable and strong, and the rattlesnake was becoming hungry because he usually ate at night. And as he looked down upon the turtle's bared neck, he licked his lips and chomped into the tender flesh with his long, slithery teeth.  
The turtle screamed, "Now we both will drown!" accusingly; and the rattlesnake replied, "Forgive me. It is in my nature. I could not be _anything_ more than what I am.""_

She could not find the significance of the story or why it kept annoying her but she had a feeling in her gut that something was coming. Something she needed to prepare herself for. But she didn't know what it was, which only made it impossible to prepare for it.

"There must be something I am missing…" she trailed, returning to her mnemonic rantings.

"Was it me that you were missing?" a deep voice sang melodically from the open doorway through the screen.

She shot up, looking to the doorway as a figure entered but only finding it to be Brahm again. She sighed dejectedly.

"You were expecting someone else?" he asked, setting down a large black bag full of what sounded like plastic bottles and other miscellaneous accessories. He already knew who it was that she was hoping would have walked through that door instead, so she decided not to answer. After a moment of awkwardness he spoke again. "Sasuke sent me again. He wanted me to-"

"To check on me." Sakura cut him off and waved her hands exasperatedly in the air with an expert eye role. "I know already. It's not like he has time to come and check on a lowly person like me on his own, right?" she asked sarcastically and plopped back onto the couch cushions, throwing her arms over her face again and huffing expletory remarks under her breath.

Brahm cleared his throat. "He means well, Sakura." He tried to convince her, but she only huffed again in return.

"Whatever." The thought of someone like _Sasuke_ doing something with a well-natured meaning was ridiculous.

Not knowing what else to say, Brahm trudged the large bag and laid it in the opening of the hallway. "Last time I saw him, he was with the Kage at the shipping docks on the east side of the city." He informed. It had been that way for a while now. Whenever Sasuke sent him there (which was sometimes more than twice a day) he would let Sakura in on whatever was happening. She had to beg him the first few times she asked, but eventually he gave in and agreed. He probably knew that it was the only thing keeping her from slitting her own wrists. She noted that this was likely because she was aware of how grey she probably looked in the low attitude she had been in since the Uchiha's exit. "The Kage needed him for another job. One that he didn't want you affiliating yourself with."

"If he didn't have a problem with me killing Daisuke, why does he care if I'm at the docks? It sounds harmless enough." She shrugged and tried to sit forward, but couldn't find the motivation in herself and gave up quickly.

"Because the Kage is monitoring his every move. Whatever is happening there, it's something that the Kage is paranoid about." She heard his footsteps make their way toward her and he stopped when he made it to the back of the couch. His hands gripped the fabric of the sofa and he leaned over the backrest to hover over her, sending her a crucial stare. "And I heard the Kage personally ask him to leave you behind. He couldn't refuse or the Kage would know something was suspicious." He whispered when another set of footsteps made their way to the front door, as if he didn't want the person that they belonged to to overhear him. "He's up to something- and I'm sure Sasuke thinks this as well. That's why he keeps sending me here to check on you whenever he gets the chance to speak to me alone." The door handle squeaked as the person grabbed it and twisted. "The Kage refuses to leave his side; probably because he knows that Sasuke is his only form of protection in case something goes wrong with the new mergers." The door creaked open and the lazy footsteps- much lighter than Brahms had been- were stepping into the threshold of the doorway. "I suggest you watch your back, Sakura. From now on, the Kage is making it his personal mission to separate you and Sasuke from each other. Sasuke and I are aware of his dislike toward you, even though Sasuke may pretend it's not there. He knows the Kage hadn't liked you from the start, which is why he hired me in the first place. I'm here to keep you from the wrong hands, but I can't be here all the time. Sasuke needs me too. Which is why I'm supposed to warn you of this-"

"Augh!" the voice of whoever entered came loudly from the doorway and the sound of pounding made its way to the Haruno's ears. The man must have been stomping his muddy shoes on the concrete outside. Another thing she would end up having to clean. She sighed.

"I can't come back for a while. I'm needed at the docks-"

"You can't do that!" She bolted until she was face to face with the hovering man, whispering harsh words through the inches she allowed between them. "You can't leave me here. I'll die!" she felt the air freeze in her lungs; her skin turn to ice. "The Kage will know I'm alone. He'll….I-"

"Shhh." Brahm silenced her with a soft glare. And watched whoever the man was by the door as he made his way down the hall and grabbed the bag, dragging it a few yards deeper into the confines of the house. "It won't be for long. Sasuke and I are making sure we find something we can do about it. I'll make sure you won't be in any real danger." He tried to assure her but she didn't look as assured as he had hoped. "You just have to trust me-"

"Hey!" a boisterous, keening voice rang from the hall obnoxiously and Brahm rolled his eyes. "Are you two talking about me?!" a head popped out from the hallway to glare at them suspiciously.

"We've been found out." Brahm replied sarcastically, throwing the loud blond man a glare of his own in return.

"I knew it!" the blond pointed rudely in their faces. There was an awkward silence wherein Sakura did not know what to say and Brahm seemed too annoyed to say anything at all.

"Well…" Brahm stretched his back and elongated the word unnecessarily for dramatic effect. "I've gotta get going." He gave Sakura a nod and walked slowly to the door.

"Wait! Don't leave- I-"

"You'll be fine, Sakura." He placed his hands in his pockets in a show of servitude. "Naruto's here- you met him at the ball, right?" he asked but she didn't answer, remembering the same boy standing next to the food table at the celebration. She wouldn't really consider it a "meeting" because she hadn't actually talked to him; they'd only made strange eye contact from across a room. "He'll keep you company." Was all he said and then exited the house in an abrupt, Sasuke-esque fashion. The last glimpse she got of him was his retreating back and a lackadaisical wave of farewell.

"What was that all about?" The blond placed his hands on his hips and smiled goofily, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Huh?" she blurted, tearing her eyes from the closed door and studying the whiskered face and sun-kissed skin of the man next to her.

He sighed, rejected, and threw an arm around her shoulder that was too familiar for her liking. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto and the Bastard Uchiha sent me here to take care of a little problem you were having!" he hollered much louder than he should have, obviously having trouble controlling the volume of his voice. She wondered if he was always like this or if he could sense the darkness of the house and was merely making up for it with his bright attitude.

"What does that even mean?" she narrowed her eyes gently and accepted his outstretched hand, letting him hoist her over the back of the couch to stand in front of him on the worn wood. The boys cerulean eyes held a strange fondness over her and she couldn't find herself as aggravated by him as she wanted to be.

"I've been told that you have a corpse in one of the rooms." He whispered as if someone would hear him and looked around himself suspiciously, speaking in an ominous voice and wiggling his fingers at her. She pushed him away to distance herself from his strange behavior. He immediately became seriously grave, a playfully haunted expression taking over his boyish face. "I'm here to extract the evidence!" he laughed maniacally, holding his belly and making ghost noises but was disappointed when she simply walked away, unimpressed by his jokes and overzealous demeanor.

* * *

Naruto pulled a few strange masks from his large black bag (rummaging through cleaning products and bristled brushes as he did), handing one to Sakura and placing his own tightly on his face. Sakura followed, copying his every move. "Why do we have to wear these?" she asked, her voice echoing into the facial contraption.

"It's been in there for a couple days, which means it's gonna' stink- and I'm not getting paid enough to stand there and smell that shit." He answered immediately, not needing to think about his words and not feeling free enough to mention the truth that he was actually being paid a large sum by Sasuke (one that he was too modest to name out loud).

"You've done this before?" Sakura guessed aloud. Considering his casualness and the fact that he seemed to know what he was doing, Sakura was actually quite certain that he had done it before.

"It's my job, after all." He laughed sheepishly. "I used to work for Daisuke before Sasuke "did him in."" The Uzumaki threw a thumbs-up at her, which she thought was strange, if not a little uncomfortable for the situation, and he opened the bathroom door. Sakura didn't feel the need to mention that she was actually the one who killed Daisuke (it turned out that the word on the street was that Sasuke had actually killed him)- and was thankful for the mask over her nose, but nothing protected her eyes from seeing the disgustful display. Naruto whistled lowly. "Sasuke sure is a violent one." He commented dryly, quirking his head and studying the patch-work dissections of the woman's body. "Poor Karin… I hated her when I had to work with her under Daisuke, but I don't think she deserved _this_." He shook his head and walked into the room anyway, kicking the bottom of the tub for affect, his waterproof boots squelching and squeaking against the soaked linoleum floor. "Are you comin'?" he motioned his head for Sakura to follow and she hesitantly did, holding her hands in front of herself as if expecting an attack at any moment.

"What should I do?" she asked quietly and Naruto looked over his shoulder to her, noting her rigid shoulders.

"I'll bag up the body. You can mop the floor." She was thankful for his pity. If it was Sasuke, he would have made her pick up the pieces of Karin- just to watch her squirm.

As Naruto set to work (his arms covered in long rubber gloves and an apron protecting his chest), Sakura soaked up the water from the floor with a few towels and scrubbed at the tiled flooring until the red slowly turned to pink, then finally to its original white coloring. Neither she nor Naruto had spoken for the last hour or so and she could tell that the Uzumaki was growing sullen, not usually familiar with silence.

"Sooooo," he elongated. "What's up with you and Sasuke, anyway?" he seemed to pick that to say instead of something else. But she didn't know if he was asking because he was truly curious or because he was merely bored and vexed. Her threw a pinky finger into the bag and searched through the draining water in the tub to make sure he didn't miss any parts or organs. He briefly reminded her of Sasuke when he had burned the man in the desert- but that was the wrong train of thought.

"What do you mean?" she asked neatly, a little embarrassed by the question. It could have many different possible meanings, none of which she really wanted to talk about with an almost-stranger.

"I mean," he rolled his eyes and exaggerated his body movements like explaining himself was a burden. "Why am I cleaning up Karin's body instead of yours?" The question sounded rude, but she guessed that he didn't mean it that way. It was just a difficult question to ask and make sound nice.

"I don't really know. Why?" She wanted the conversation over as soon as possible.

"Well," he thought for a moment and scratched his head, not really noticing that his gloves were covered in bodily muck and he was getting it in his spiky hair. "Sasuke just gives me the impression of the kind of person to not keep people around for long- if you know what I mean. And Brahm said that you're kinda' like his "partner in crime" so it seemed strange, that's all." He explained and Sakura tried not to laugh at the term "partner in crime." But, indeed, it _was_ strange… She remembered again the story about the snake and the turtle then blew out a large huff of air from her nose- a trait that she was picking up from the Uchiha since he did it so much around her when he was aggravated about something.

"It's not like I have any useful abilities other than nagging Sasuke about what he should and should not do. So I honestly don't know why he needs me."

"Do you guys looooove each other?" Naruto questioned suddenly, clasping his hands together femininely and batting his eyelashes like a damsel, thrusting out his hip to imitate the way a woman would stand. She was too shocked by the onslaught of feeling in her chest to answer immediately.

"N-no!" She stuttered. "Of course not. He's a maniacal bastard!" she insulted and could picture the look Sasuke would give her if he had heard her description of him. He probably would have given her the 'apple face' again, no doubt.

"That sounds like an excuse."

"Well, it's not."

"Uh-huh." He nodded, not sounding like he believed her at all and returning to his bagging.

She growled and took out her frustrations on the floor, scrubbing until her elbow ached and she could see her reflection in its surface once again.

"Sakura," Naruto stood over her when he was done, hands on his hips.

"Hm?" She was afraid he would ask another troubling question as she stared up at him through the bright lighting to find his friendly face.

"You missed a spot."

* * *

They sat in the upstairs dressing room above the spiral staircase after they were finished (it took five hours to clean it fully and at one point Sakura even had to scrub the hard-to-reach crevices of the sink with a few Q-tips). But they could relax now. It wasn't like Sakura was doing anything else important. It wasn't like Sasuke was going to walk in the house any minute, she thought broodingly.

The Haruno held up a sun-dress in front of her body whilst she gazed in a mirror, turning this way and that to get a better look. "What do you think?" she asked, looking to Naruto as he poured another glass of Sasuke's expensive wine for himself. 'To hell with it,' was her thought when she had pulled the bottle from his personal cellar earlier that night.

"Hm…" he studied the dress from the couch that Sasuke and Brahm had sat on before the Kage's celebration not long ago. The contrast between Naruto and Sasuke almost surprised her. "You should pick a darker color since your hair is so bright." He sipped his wine, fully convinced of his own answer and nodding to himself as some silent afterthought in his mind.

She snorted. "You and Sasuke are way too good at critiquing women's apparel." She criticized and laughed lightly, picking a dark purple martini dress from the rows of clothes. She would never know why Sasuke had picked so much out for her if she wasn't going to ever be able to wear them. He was probably going to try to kill her before the next opportunity for her to anyway, she thought whimsically. But she made sure to use the word 'try' because she remembered her promise to dream-Brahm: she would fight to stay alive, even if that meant fighting Sasuke himself. She made a promise- even if it _was_ in a dream and not reality; it was still considered a promise and she never went back on her word.

"What's with the face?" Naruto asked, commenting on her crestfallen expression.

"Nothing." Sakura tried to hide herself behind a smile, but he wasn't buying it.

"Are you worrying about Sasuke?"

"Uh," she thought. "Sure." She agreed when she decided that agreeing was far easier than explaining what she was really thinking. And it wasn't a complete lie. She truly was worried about him, but kept telling herself he'd be fine. He was _Sasuke_, after all.

"Yep," he smacked his lips together, making a popping noise and stretching his arms and legs out over the couch. "I would be, too, if I were you. I mean, aside from the obvious."

"What do you mean, "aside from the obvious?"" she raised a brow and threw the dress back on the hook, pouring a glass for herself but only wetting her lips.

He laughed at her question, as if it were obvious. "Aside from the obvious fact that he's playing a dangerous game- the kind of game that people die in." he shrugged. "He can only blame himself if he dies- he knew the risks but he still took 'em." Naruto's tone was unforgiving, which Sakura felt weird about.

She swallowed hard, making a loud noise in the back of her throat. "What risks?" she suddenly felt like there was something she wasn't privy to. And she had _so much_ hoped she was done with those feelings. "What are you talking about?" She stomped to stand in front of him, not letting him move until he answered all of her.

Naruto shrunk a little into the seat, his eye twitching his fingers in nervousness. He wondered if he had said something he wasn't supposed to say. "Well, he's planning on killing the most powerful and influential man in Sound. That in _itself_ is dangerous. Not to mention he's not exactly the lowest person on everyone's radar at the moment. He'll probably end up underestimating the Kage's power and getting murdered-"

Sakura fell into the seat beside the blond man, gasping at her own stupidity. This whole time, she had been worrying about his motives when she really should have been….. She shook her head disbelievingly. "People like Sasuke don't get killed that easily." She shook her head harder, trying to make herself believe that it wouldn't happen like Naruto had said. "Normal people do, right?" She looked into the large cerulean eyes of the boy next to her, but found only the hesitance in him, not the comfort she had been eager to see.

"He's just an ordinary man." Naruto whispered, like he wasn't sure why he should be explaining such a thing to an adult. "He's still human- and able to die just as easily as you and me." He looked forward, spacing his gaze toward far off places "But he puts on a good show, doesn't he?" He laughed humorlessly. "He makes himself seem so indestructible."

And Sakura felt guilty that she had believed Sasuke's lie; he wasn't indestructible at all. He only wanted her to think that he was.

* * *

She dreamt that night of Brahm. He was in the living room, holding up a newspaper as if reading it, but his eyes were unfocused, frozen. He saw nothing around him, even as Sakura waved her hand slowly in front of his face. His body never moved and his fingers were cold, withered...dead, as Sasuke sat in the shadows somewhere within the room as well, watching. "I had to do it, Sakura." He drolled, rolling his tongue over the words. "He was no longer useful to me. His time had come."

She awoke, her lungs puffing in and out hurriedly and sweat making her light pink bangs stick to her forehead. Her room was dark and she searched rapidly for her clock, realizing that she must have tossed too much in her sleep, ending up on the opposite side of the bed.

3:15 in the morning. It was still Tuesday. She sighed and faltered from her resting on her elbows, burrowing back under her green duvet covers. She looked to her door but there were no lights shining through the cracks, which only led her to believe that Sasuke had still not returned from his tryst with the Kage at the docks. She was alone, the house empty and lackluster compared to when Naruto had been there only two days before. And Brahm hadn't come back since that day either. Why, she did not know- but it burned something deep inside her.

Jealousy.

Jealousy that the Kage was able to have the things she wanted most. Her fists clenched against the thin, cool sheets as she brooded. But she was interrupted when the silence of the house was broken by a strange noise somewhere in the confines of one of the rooms. It was quiet, barely place-able, but it was there. The sound of someone shutting a door.

She shot up in the bed, sitting still as possible to listen closely. It must have been Brahm or Sasuke. Her heart accelerated with the thought of the Uchiha coming home. But she couldn't hear anything anymore. The noise died down as soon as it had erupted.

Sakura's feet found their way over the edge of the mattress to step upon the cold flooring of her room. She wrapped her arms around herself, walking to her door and opening it slowly. The house was dark, which she was unsure about. She was sure Sasuke or Brahm would have at least turned on the lights when they came in. She peered through her cracked door into the shadows, breathing shallowly to conceal her position in the room.

"Sasuke," she whispered, hoping he was playing one of his jokes again. "Is that you?" No answer. "Brahm?" she called even quieter, but there was no indication of life anywhere near her.

She waited for at least a hundred heart-beats before she stepped into the hallway and looked down toward the direction of the living room. There was no noticeable movement in the distance where the couches and bookshelves resided. And the other end of the hall where the staircase hung was empty as well. She tip-toed to Sasuke's room, where the door had been left open, peering inside to catch a glimpse and see if anyone was indeed in there. But the sheets were crumpled and empty, no doubt in her mind that they were also cold from disuse. The sound came again, from above her, and she looked to the ceiling, squinting in the darkness and wondering what it had been. If not Sasuke or Brahm, there was no other explanation for the noise.

It happened again. And again.

The sound of a door shutting. Or perhaps a window left open and moving in the wind, hitting against the house's siding. She couldn't tell, but it wasn't normal. And she didn't wait another second before sprinting to the back door through the kitchen and into the backyard where the gazebo and garden were held. But, beyond those, was the sanctuary of forest. Dark, uninhibited forest where she would be safe, as long as she blended in until morning when she could use the light of day to protect her.

If only she had made it to the trees. She was cut off only three yards from the foliage when the force of a heavier body clashed with her own, knocking her to the ground and placing a rag over her mouth and nose. She fought against the assailant, thrashing until she felt she would break her own body with her force, and refusing to breathe in. She could taste what she guessed was chloroform. But it was in bitter efforts, because it still settled into her skin, quickly fading her into a deeper sleep than she had woken up from only moments before.


	9. IX: Monsters In The End

I do not own Naruto. (Also, this may be good news to you. There will be one more chapter after this because there was too much stuff to put in one chapter.)

* * *

Natural Born Killers

Part IX: Monsters In The End

* * *

_A nowhere lad, sitting in this nowhere land  
A nowhere boy and his lonely girl  
Claiming to belong in this nowhere world_

_The nothing thoughts of this nothing day  
Only stir him in a nothing way_

_An empty bottle- a nothing beast  
A nowhere strife  
An empty feast_

_Emptiness to say the least.  
But still something of worthy keep_

_Something in this lair of mine  
A shrine  
A crime_

_A something land of something time_

_Where little nowhere boys claim nothing at all  
And nothing girls play with empty dolls_

_Something just to pass the time  
In this nowhere land of mine_

* * *

She awoke, groggy at first as she felt her body hovering a few feet above ground- possibly being carried by something considering the arms she felt under her moving form. It was male, she could tell from the breathing- slightly heavier and closer together than a female's would have been. The moving motion- forward and onward through the streets, the feet crunching against granite then asphalt groundings, and then the bumping motion of each step as he bent his knee to take another- made her nauseous.

Her eyes opened, only slightly, but it was still an effort at sight. The sky was still black, only a few pinprick stars glowing in the background of the universe's void. She acknowledged it before trying to focus on the face above her. It was unfamiliar, and she didn't expect it to be remarkable enough for her to remember once she was out of this groggy trance. But his cheeks were full, giving his face a round look even though he wasn't overweight, and his eyes were brown. The brows above them were slim and a darker shade than his shaggy hair, but her attention was taken from this when he shifted her in his arms and she couldn't hold her eyes open anymore, closing them but exhaustion soon took over and she slept for the remainder of the journey-

Until the sound of a car door opening caught her attention as well and from the clicking noise of its handle as someone opened it, she would tell it was the back seat of a large vehicle. She found her assumption to be correct when she felt herself being lifted and set onto the cushions, her eyes fluttering again in a desperate effort to wake her. It was dark; the light from the illuminated ash tray and window modules kept her vision functional but not fully able to discern what she was surrounded by. Blobs of shadowy figures moved around her- was it people?- but Sakura wasn't sure until one spoke.

"I bet you were wondering when you and I would have our meeting together." The Kage's voice was musing. "Though, I presume that this was not the way in which you were hoping for. But it's effective, none the less. I certainly got your attention, didn't I?"

When Sakura regained her control, opening her eyes enough to squint in the darkness and find the hiding face of the Kage, her eyes were groggy and itchy from being dry for what felt like so long. The car's leather seats (the kind of leather that was luxurious enough to hint at just who was sitting across from her when she found the will to look up from her lap and into the Kage's hateful gaze again) were cold on the back of her thighs and the thin silk of the light blue night-dress that clung to her skin couldn't protect her from the chill. She covered herself with her arms to heat her torso; the rest of her body would take care of itself.

When Sakura came to her senses, she looked to the other forms in the car (two men sitting on either side of her to keep her from running away) hoping to find the familiar dark eyes of Uchiha Sasuke. "Where is he?" She spat, Naruto's words coming back to her mind: _He'll probably end up underestimating the Kage's power and getting murdered….. He's still human- and able to die just as easily as you and me._ A cold, desperate chill ran up her spine, causing her to tighten her arms around herself. Brahm had said Sasuke was with the Kage—and now he wasn't. Which could have only meant two things: Sasuke was either dead or he knew this was happening and simply didn't care enough to show his face.

The Kage didn't need her to expand upon her question to know who she was speaking of. "He's at your home. I gave him a little time to rest—the man never sleeps." He smiled fondly, lighting a match and placing the flame to the end of a cigarette before inhaling deeply. The paper and tobacco caught and burned, the crinkling noise filling the confines of the back seat. He exhaled, filling the air with smoke before rolling down the window and letting the chilled air from outside come in and settle on the bodies surrounding her. Sakura took a breath of the cold, bitter wind as it encased them and let it out in a shaky exhale; the puff of air from her lips was foggy from the chill and looked like the smoke from his cigarette.

Then, once the terror had ebbed away, she allowed herself to feel the relief rush through her.

Sasuke was alive. She didn't know, though, whether the relief she felt was appropriate. She couldn't discern whether or not she should feel elated or beguiled with fear. But the Kage's words sent a dull ache throughout her chest. The place beneath her ribcage felt hollow and used- a pain that she could not heal this time. The pulsing of her heart let her know it was still there, the blood flowing through her body so fast that her toes and hands were numb and her head felt like it was buzzing. But the ache in her chest cleared her vision, allowing her to hate herself again (hate herself because she should have hated the Uchiha, but she didn't. She should have hated him because, if he wasn't dead, that meant he knew what was happening to her and he wasn't doing anything to save her). Her chest throbbed with the pain- the kind of pain that lingers. She breathed the best she could, but it was stunted and awkward to say the least.

And because she couldn't bring herself to hate Sasuke, she did the next best thing she could: She lied to herself.

_We'll get out of this together._ She mentally repeated. _ Sasuke will come, after all. He always does. He'll come when least expected and save me._ She swore, not knowing that this time she would, in fact, be left to save herself. Because the Uchiha was not coming. He had never planned to. _Sasuke and I will live through this because we have to. Otherwise, everything will have been a waste. All of Sasuke's planning and my fighting to survive won't mean anything if I die now…._ She tried to make herself believe it, because it seemed simple in her head and she didn't want to complicate it any more than that for fear of the terror mounting within her again.

"It's stifling, isn't it?" The Kage lifted the cigarette to his mouth again, taking a long drag. She could see nothing in the darkness other than the burning tip of its paper until he ashed it in the ashtray, hitting it on the edge of the tray and causing it to light up again from the motion sensor in the module. Once it lit, she could make out the side of his face in the dark. "It's suffocating—when you put your faith in someone and they betray you. You choke on your own disappointment." He sighed and looked to her through old, tired eyes (the eyes that saw and knew more than she had thought they did). "Sasuke's not coming, so wipe that hopeful look off your face." He lifted his lip at her in what could have been either an ugly sneer or a smirk, she couldn't tell. But he picked up the ashtray from the console (the light going out when he did) and dropped his cigarette into it, not snuffing it out so the glow of its burning paper caused only enough brightness for her to know where the tray was, held directly in front of him in his palm.

"Maybe he is, and maybe he isn't." She sat herself straighter, trying to seem bigger than her mere hundred pounds of attitude but he only scoffed disgustedly.

"Why place your faith in someone like Sasuke? He's different than you- he's evolved-"

"You sound like you're more interested in Sasuke than I am-" She laughed, insinuating that the Kage held romantic feelings for the young, raven-haired sociopath, until the man to her left (the baby-faced one who carried her to the car) lifted his palm quickly to slam across her cheekbone, curing her of her insolence.

"Why must you make this hard on yourself, Woman?" the Kage sighed, acting as if he wasn't enjoying himself. He wasn't a good actor. "You should be thanking me. After all, it's either me who kills you or Sasuke will instead. And, believe me; you should be happy I decided to do it before the Uchiha. He would have made you suffer, whereas I will make it quick. Painful, but quick."

"What have I done to make you hate me so much?" She coughed, lifting her face to look at him from where the guard's smack had thrown her a little. "I've done nothing but help Sasuke. Therefore, I've helped you in the process. _You_ should be thanking _me_!"

"Don't flatter yourself." He chuckled, leaning forward until he was only three feet from her. She could almost smell his breath, sickeningly similar to ash and dried dirt. "All you've done is hinder Sasuke. And, by hindering Sasuke, you've hindered me as well. And I don't allow for hindrances. So I have no choice other than to cut you from the equation." He placed his hand in the pocket of his robe, fiddling for a moment until finding what he was looking for. The silver of the gun shined in the minimal light from the cigarette in the tray still resting in his hand before him, its light slowly burning out but she could still see it there. He placed the ashtray on his knee, using his free hand to cock the gun and place it toward the center of her chest from where he sat across from her. "No offence, but you're time has come to a close. It was nice working with you, Sakura, but I'm afraid I have to let you go."

His finger twitched on the trigger as he grasped it, pausing to watch her face in the light of the streetlamp outside, illuminating her through the open window. His hand clenched and unclenched excitedly upon the gun's surface, becoming real friendly with the aluminum handle before blinking and pulling the trigger, letting the shot ring out through the car. The bang echoed through the confines of the back seat and alley they were perched in, splintering in her ears and all she could hear was a high-pitched ringing and the faint sound of the Kage's surprised wails as he dropped the gun to the floor, clutching his eyes and furiously trying to rub the burning ashes away. The ashtray flew to the floor as well, forgotten after she had kicked it to his face, the contents spilling into his eyes and staining his skin.

The man to her right, having moved to grab her, struggled next to her. The ringing in her ears deafened her enough to heighten her other senses—the searing pain in her shoulder thwarting her attention. She examined herself, the gash slowly oozing dark blood but it was only a graze, flashing against her skin enough to wound her but not close enough to pierce her skin fully. The bullet had missed its official target after the Kage's distraction and had instead lodged itself in the throat of the man to her right. He convulsed, gurgling and clutching his neck tightly until he was immobile only seconds after the gunshot.

The Kage darted to the floor on his knees, searching blindly with watery eyes for the gun but not finding it in time. His shouts, directed at the man to her left that was trying to help the Kage to his feet, were unintelligible through his choking out the hot ashes from his throat that he had sucked in. So she found no other way- nothing else that she could do- except lunge her torso toward the open window, climbing over the body to her right. Her limbs tangled with his larger ones, slowing her down and soaking the hem and neckline of her nightgown with blood that did not belong to her, until she finally made it to the small opening, throwing her arms out toward freedom and grasping the edges of the window to haul herself out with numb arms, gasping in the cool, clean air of night. Her hands left red smears upon the clean paint of the outside door, fumbling for balance as she pulled herself closer and closer toward escape- her elbow knocking into the edge of the glass and her knee wrestling to come up over the dead man's body and make it through the opening as well. But in that momentary lapse of balance- that split second of lost coordination- came her downfall. It was only that split second it took for her undesoluted foe to gain the leverage he needed against her. He retaliated before she could finally grasp the freedom she was fighting desperately for as he chained his cold hand to her ankle, jerking her back so hard that her leg almost flew out of socket. She gasped the air, biting her tongue to keep from screaming. Her nails cut sharply through the paint of the car's door (she could feel it collecting under her nails), clenching to its surface to try and keep leverage, to try and keep control on what was happening. But he jerked again and again, clawing her skin to haul her back inside where the Kage was still shouting orders, high-pitched and hysterical orders that still could not be made sense of through his soiled mouth.

All at once she was seized at the hips, the large hands thrusting her backward toward himself and sure to leave unsightly bruises upon her otherwise flawless skin until she slid in, her elbows and head the only part she could keep outside. She groaned at the popping of her joints and flung herself forward again once she gained footing upon the seat between his legs, every nerve in her body screaming and the gash on her shoulder tearing open more and more with the strain of her muscles. He jerked her one last time, bringing her hips in before she spun onto her back, ignoring the sharp slam of her spine hitting the edge of the window, and dug the heel of her foot into his crotch until his hands left her body to grasp his own, holding himself and growling in pain.

Her arms acted on their own self-preserving motions, using a strength she didn't know she possessed to haul and swing her body backwards out of the window. She lost her footing as she slid to the pavement, landing on her wounded shoulder with a sickening crunch then lifting on her palms to stand, the gravel of the cement cutting in to the heel of her small hands. She let out a sharp cry of determination as her legs tensed, coiling the muscles for action as the adrenaline hit her full force, causing the pain of her shoulder to ebb away slowly, and she lunged forward again. Her bare feet pounded into the pavement with each thrust of powerful flanks—she darted into the closest alleyway, ignoring the splintering of glass under her sensitive feet and toppling over garbage bins in her wake.

The dinging noise of the car door opening caught her attention as she fled toward the only place she knew she could go. The only place she had that she could go to. In the strange land she found herself residing in, she only had one place that belonged to her. Unfortunately, that was the place that the Kage probably knew to look for her again. But, when he did, she would be sure she was prepared to kill him.

"You can run from me, Sakura." The Kage's rustling voice found her through the streets, sending her heart to thud unnaturally, bubbling in her chest. "You can go to your savior but it will not change your fate!"

* * *

She ran. She ran as if his words could chase her- She ran through the darkened and cold streets of Sound, darting across yards and over benches and gates until she found herself, battered and spent, kneeling on the wood of the back porch of her home. Her ribcage, no longer hollow, filled with scattering pain as she tried- and failed- to regain her breath. Her mouth hung open as she bent over the wooden porch, her rapid breaths puffing white into the cold as her body cooled down. The pain in her shoulder climbed again to a crushing point as the adrenaline began to fade. She would need stitches, she noted as she recognized the puddle of blood, leaking down her slender arm and pooling around her hand on the wood.

The cold air hitting her throat made her cough, her mouth too dry to make any noise other than what sounded like a gagged, strangled sob. She clutched her shoulder, her nails digging into her flesh as she tried to bury the pain away. The blood staining her dress- the blood that was not hers, the blood that used to be warm- was now too cold and sticking to her. She rubbed at it furiously, religiously, trying to erode it away but it only smeared and covered more of her. It dripped from the fabric down her thighs and slowly dried in the frosty wind. She found that she couldn't breathe, scrubbing and scrubbing until her head swam from lack of air. She gasped, choking but not taking in the air that she needed until she couldn't help but hold her abdomen and fall to the wooden deck, letting out hoarse, frustrated sobs, slamming her hand into the hard surface she lay on—because she had never felt so still- so helpless- as she did now. So feeble in the face of what she surrounded herself by. The howling of the wind picked up and drowned out her sobs; it was probably for the best because she didn't want Sasuke to hear her and come out. She had other plans in store for him and she had to make sure he wasn't alerted to her presence.

So she waited….she waited until her breathing regained normalcy and she didn't have the insufferable need to puke tingling in the back of her throat. She waited until her shoulder stopped bleeding and the pain was nothing but a slow throb she could ignore.

Sakura Haruno swallowed and stood, quietly sliding open the balcony door after entering the security code. It hissed lowly as it opened and she slipped sideways passed the glass door, squinting through the dark kitchen to make sure Sasuke or even the Kage weren't hiding in the shadows. She counted to thirty, the only number that seemed appropriate, and when she didn't hear or see anything unusual, she made her way over the linoleum floor to the drawers by the sink. Her feet barely lifted off the tiled surface, her toes skimming along to gently move her as slowly and soundlessly as humanly possible. Her breathing had slowed enough to barely make any discernable noise until she reached the drawer, placing cold and sightless fingers upon the handles and feeling her way in the darkness until she found the second drawer to her left. Her hand, smearing blood on the surface but it didn't matter, formed around the metal handle and pulled it open so sluggishly that she didn't even know it if was opening or not, until the edge of the drawer toughed her stomach, scaring her momentarily until she realized what it was.

Her hand plunged in until it met the rubber, grip-formed handle of the kitchen knife she usually saw Sasuke use while cooking and then she lifted it, holding it in the shaft of light from the blinds of the balcony doors until it glittered and shined before her. Her breath hitched, feeling the sharpness of the blade with her fingers and moving her feet once again across the floor to the entrance of the kitchen, then to the scratched hardwood flooring of the living room, and then down the hallway to the second door on the right where she knew she would find Sasuke's bedroom.

The heart in her chest that she was not sure even belonged to her after all sputtered, pounding so feverishly that she was sure she would see it moving her chest if she looked down. But she didn't—her eyes were glued to the small opening of Sasuke's door in the blackness of the hallway she stood in. It was open enough for her to slip in without the door creaking but for some reason she stopped herself, imagining the Uchiha to be standing behind the door, ready to strike at her as soon as she entered, like a baited snake poised at the ready.

The knife in her hand was cool, but her palms began to sweat and she held it down to her side, not sure whether she wanted to go through with this or not. But she didn't see any other choice. Eat or be eaten. If she stopped fighting now, she would surely be dead before morning. And then her promise to Dream-Brahm would be useless musings and everything she swore to herself would disappear along with her. And those promises were just too precious to let go. She would have let Sasuke kill her- but she couldn't let him kill her courage. It was all he left her with, after all. The only thing he allowed her to have was her courage, whether that be the courage to fight or the courage to die. In the end, it didn't matter which one she chose because it wasn't her choice anymore. The decision had been made when the Kage pulled the trigger: she would keep her courage to fight….even if she had to fight Sasuke himself. And that was what she would have to do. Because it was Uchiha Sasuke that was threatening her life more than anything else. Just allowing him to continue breathing in that bed merely ten feet from her was too much of a risk- a risk she was not willing to take.

So she found her way in the darkness through the door's opening and to the edge of his bed where she could not see his pale, handsome face…but she could hear his breathing. And that was all she needed. Reminding herself of her resolve, she lifted her small left leg onto the edge of the bed right next to where it dipped in from his heavier body, her light weight not even making a motion in the mattress as she lifted her other leg and placed it on the other side of him, straddling over him while he slept. She didn't know how much longer he would remain asleep until his instincts kicked in, alerting him to her presence. She didn't know if he was already awake and just waiting for her to make a move. But she lifted the knife with both her hands clutching the handle, shaking slightly but unfaltering all the same. His window allowed a little light through its slits from the streetlamps in front of the forest in their backyard. It was enough light to cast onto the knife poised above the base of his throat, the sharp, metal point only millimeters away from his white skin where his pulse thumped slowly in restful slumber. Her fingers twitched, ready to thrust downward into the flesh there but halting before it made contact. It happened again and again until she clenched her eyes, trying to regain her resolve. Her courage was leaving her and her body began to shake until her legs couldn't hold her up anymore and she settled lightly to sit upon his stomach. He stirred in his sleep from the contact, not fully waking but his hands moving to grasp at her tightly on her hip and thigh, holding her gently in place. His breathing evened again, his broad chest moving up and down, lifting her with it before a strange, soft noise rumbled in the back of his throat, settling there as his hands splayed across her skin in midnight contentment. The knife stayed in place but her hands lost a little of their tightly coiled stiffness around the handle.

The light from the window glittering on the weapon reflected onto his face, making his brows furrow in his sleep from the new source of unexpected light until they fluttered. There were dark bags under his eyes from lack of rest- it was the first time she noticed them and she couldn't stop herself from feeling guilty about it. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed the noise in his throat down, it came dangerously close to the point of the knife as it moved and she bit her lip, not sure what she should do next because she was sure he would wake soon and realize what she was trying to make herself do.

His stomach muscles tensed, as if he were about to turn in his sleep, but his body recognized the unfamiliar pressure of another against his own.

She watched in the reflected light of the knife across his face as his dark eyes opened slowly and met her own, blank at first until he saw what must have been fear on her face; and then he realized how she was sitting on him, and his eyes traced from her thighs straddling him until they swept over the blood-soaked silk clinging to her hips and stomach up to her neck and shoulder where the bullet wound resided then back to her unsure expression until, finally, his unimaginably dark orbs flittered down her arms to what she held in her hand over his throat. She could see the sleepy haze leave his vision, replaced with awareness.

His shoulders tensed and his fingers twinged against her hip and thigh where his hands still rested. "Sakura," he purred her name, trying to sound calming, but she could hear the warning in the deep set of his voice. "What do you think you are doing?" he asked slowly, making sure not to move or breathe too much, his eyes sharpening into a glare. For once, she could see indecision litter his expression—the indecision of what was happening. For the first time, the Uchiha was confused.

"You-" She tried to speak- to explain herself- but the words burnt her mouth before she could spit them out. She swallowed down the taste. "You knew what was going to happen." She whispered to keep her voice from cracking, her eyes pricked with unshed tears that she would not allow to fall. "You knew the Kage was going to kill me but you didn't do anything about it-" Sakura's hands were unsteady but still held over him, fearsomely close to his skin. The shaking from her fingers had flooded through her entire body and she couldn't stop the trembling of doubt that filled her now, causing her body to convulse and shiver from his hard stare. "You were going to let me die!" She didn't doubt he could feel her body's signs of terror but she knew she had the upper hand and there was nothing he could do about it other than listen to what she had to say.

"Sakura," he called her attention again, this time short and stern. "Put down the knife." And, for a moment, she actually contemplated doing as he said, her hand loosening around the handle. But she realized what she was doing before it was too late and regained control, steadying her hand and holding the blade even closer to his skin. His eyes widened in surprise before they narrowed in a way she had never seen directed at her before.

"I'm going to kill you before you kill me, Sasuke." She informed, wishing her voice hadn't wavered so much because she saw him smirk at her weakness. "And that's a promise I'm willing to keep. Don't take it personally." Her voice, hoarse and thick, trembled again as she looked into his glare.

"No you're not." He said surely, thinking something to himself that seemed to ease him and he relaxed into the mattress. "If you were going to kill me, you would have done it while I was sleeping."

"Why do you say that?" she spat, feeling his fingers twinge against her again in anticipation.

"Because, Sakura, I know you. I know what you're capable of…..and what you're not." His hands moved slowly against her skin, soothingly coasting down to her knees and ignoring the warning look she gave him to stop moving. "And you're not capable of killing me now, because you don't have the guts to do it while my eyes are open." He smirked, moving his hands slowly again until they lifted off her knees and stopped mid-air between her and himself, only a foot away from her arms. He was testing his hypothesis, seeing if she was really going to make a move against him; and he smiled widely at her when she couldn't bring herself to thrust the knife into his flesh, even when he threatened her so blatantly.

"Sasuke, please," She pleaded desperately, almost sobbing now. "I don't want to do this but-"

"Then don't do it, Sakura-"

"But you leave me no choice….." She breathed unevenly, the warning signs of a panic attack taking form.

He smiled sweetly up at her, lowering his voice until it was a lullaby. His eyes warmed and his expression softened. "Sakura, how could you think that I'd ever hurt you?"

"What?" She gasped, almost laughing. "Of course you would hurt me, Sasuke! You threaten to do it all the time!" She shook her head, trying to rid herself of his words but they were already in her brain. "The Kage told me-" She gasped in a breath so hard that it made her choke. "He told me that you knew I was in danger, but you were here instead—you didn't care that I was going to die—because- because you would have killed me yourself if the Kage didn't do it and-"

"And you believed him?" The calm in his voice startled her into listening. "The Kage is the bad guy, Sakura, not me. I'm the one who hired Brahm to keep you safe from the Kage, so why would I let him kill you? Huh?" he interrogated, clenching and unclenching his hands in the air. She shook his words out again, trying to regain herself. Trying to regain her courage. But she couldn't escape the logic in his words. She couldn't figure out a reason why what he said couldn't be true, after all. "Why would I let you die before I succeeded in my plan?" He slowly lifted his right hand to her face, stroking her cheek when he saw the uncertainty take over her. Her body broke out in trembles again as she bit back relieved tears and breathed deeply, comforting herself. "You're important to me, Sakura." He murmured, gliding his thumb across her lip and putting on a practiced smile that he knew looked genuine. "Now, please" His voice filled with compelling authority, but he kept it low so he wouldn't alert her. "Put down the knife." His hand settled against the side of her neck, stroking circles on her soft skin.

He watched her fingers slowly, but surely, untangle themselves and her face pale back to its natural shade as she let out a few breaths she had been holding. Her brows knitted together in a grimace as her chest untightened, hunching forward in on herself in relief. He didn't dare move until she took the knife and held her hand out, dropping it somewhere beside him on the bed where it mingled with the sheets. As soon as he heard the knife slide onto the bedding, his gaze hardened and he clenched his fingers where his palm rested against her throat. Her gaze flashed to him-

But in one swift movement he had his hand on the thinnest part of her wrists, holding them in the air away from where the weapon fell- so easily fighting against her struggles. The Uchiha quickly jerked the small arms of the woman above him, using the leverage he gained against her and knocking her off-balance onto her back, thrusting her hands above her head in an iron grip. The struggle had caused a stack of books next to the bed's railing to scatter, falling and ricocheting across the floor before settling and the room was silent again. His breath came, ragged and forced after holding it shallow for so long for fear of the knife's edge marring his skin. But she started her struggles anew, thrashing against the assailant towering over her, a fearsome beast cloaked in shadows. He was settled between her thighs, stopping her from any kicks she could have made against him and she could feel his stomach and chest move against her where he hovered, his breathing chaotic and harsh. His grip on her neck loosened when she exhausted herself and her struggles halted, waiting for him to strike but he did nothing other than kneel over her, regaining his breath and resting his forehead on her unwounded shoulder. "Sakura," he sighed, breathing deeply through his nose. His face turned into her neck and she could feel the rustling of his lips, the vibration of his voice, against her skin when he spoke again. "Thank you." He murmured and the words could have made her cry if she wasn't too busy breathing in his scent (the slight smell of deep woods and open fires, but it couldn't mask the scent underneath, the natural, musky scent of him- the scent of a _man_).

She couldn't find it in herself to do anything other than nod at his gratitude and press her cold nose to his ear. She could feel the blood drying on her nightdress stain his white shirt, but he didn't seem to care, his hand restraining her wrists sliding down her skin, his fingertips tracing down until they reached the hem of the silk plastering her skin, lifting the hem to spread his fingers across her hipbone and thigh. "You have to trust me, Sakura." He breathed into her hair. "How many times must I repeat myself?"

"I-" She pronounced, sucking in a breath through her teeth at the hot feeling of his tongue lapping her neck. "What?" She stuttered, forgetting his question.

He smiled against her skin, taking some kind of enjoyment from her befuddled state. "You just don't know how to listen, Doctor Haruno," he uttered in-between open-mouthed kisses across the expanse of her throat, mockingly calling her by her title. She bit back a noise that would have been too loud in such a quiet room- but she couldn't hold it back when his fingers trailed higher off her thigh to wrap his sturdy arm under her and crush her hips to his own. She breathed, breathless in his intensity, into his ear, whispering dirty words that never used to be part of her vocabulary; she pushed forward to press more against him, letting her head rest back against the mattress as he worked over her, grinding forward and back forward and back- pressure building as she wrapped her legs around his hips to attain more friction. His breathing picked up again with hers, his ears ringing with the noises she made. "Oh, God," He heard her croak out, dragging her hands through his dark hair when he shifted to a more comfortable position between her legs, tilting against her deeply and pushing her thighs open more with his free hand until he was as close against her as he could attain. "Sasuke," she pleaded, moving her hands down to fumble with the belt of his black pants until they came loose around his waist.

He altered himself to accommodate her as she moved to raise the hem of her nightgown up until her hips were bare and exposed, the bones of her hips jutting out slightly from her flat stomach. Her fingers curled around the fabric of his waistband, pulling his hips back down into her own and grinding the best she could from her position under him, but it wasn't enough. She grunted in frustration, pulling at his boxers until he was breathless and she was unsure of why he was hesitating, his face strangely turning impassive and blank again like it used to be, as if he were trying to be unaffected by her ministrations. She made her move quickly, trying to regain some control over him by grabbing him through his boxers and let out a sigh of relief when he groaned brokenly into her hair, pressing his hips into her palm and grabbing at her hips, her ribs, her thighs…anything he could grasp to hold his thoughts together while she moved against him, steady and slow. His hips bucked involuntarily and he bit down onto her shoulder in an effort to regain some control over himself.

"Sakura," came his hoarse reply against her skin where his teeth sank deep against her shoulder bone. She turned, stopping what she was doing and almost bumping her nose into his when he retrieved his mouth from her and halted, centimeters from her lips.

"Yes?" She replied, hoping desperately that he was preparing her for something more than what they were doing, because it just wasn't enough to satiate her anymore. She was sure the bubbling in her chest would make her explode.

"Don't take this personally," He repeated her earlier words, moving his face away from her own to hover over again and watch the set of her mouth as it morphed into confusion. Her eyes darkened with haziness and head tilted slightly sideways as she watched his face morph back to his usual uncaring wall, his lips parted as if he wanted to say more but he stopped himself, merely studying her face as well until the confusion turned into something else- her eyes widening and pupils dilating-

The room remained silent; she did not scream as he slid the blade of the knife through her abdomen, missing her organs barely at all. The only noise she made was a slight high pitch of surprise in the back of her throat and a small cough as she tried to breathe through the surge of pain. "You should really learn to realize when someone is tricking you, Sakura. It's your own fault you keep getting into these situations, ya' know."

But she wasn't listening. "Sas-" Her eyes were dimming, holding desperately onto reality as her fingers clutched to his arms to hold herself there, but it wasn't enough and she slowly began fading into unconsciousness under his watch. "I have to do this, Sakura. You are no longer of use to me. Your time has come….." He spoke, his words reminding her of a half-remembered dream- one that she realized, too late, that she should have listened to. A warning from her subconscious that she was in danger, but she was too blinded to realize it until she felt the cool metal of the knife glide cleanly out of her stomach and Sasuke drag her limp, useless body onto the floor with a thud. The last thing she could make out in her dimming vision before oblivion took her was his tall form standing over her body on the worn, icy wooden floor. He loomed over her, watching her face pale as her body struggled to live, the blood surging from the wound her hand was clutching. She scratched and pressed against the skin there with the last amount of her strength but she could not feel it; she was already becoming numb, her body succumbing to shock.

He watched as her face relaxed and her body stilled on the floor, small and insignificant and unable to move in the numbness- her fragile chest moving in short, fast gasps as her eyes glazed with approaching darkness.

* * *

When Sakura opened her eyes, she felt hopeful, for the first time in a long time. Sasuke would kill the Kage and she would survive. It seemed simple in her head and she didn't want to complicate it any more than that.

When Sakura fully awoke, she felt lost; the place beneath her ribs – hollow again. As if her heart was not beating at all. She waited to feel it pound in her chest but it never came- it was too weak for her to recognize and she licked her lips with her dry tongue. She was in a hotel room- she noticed the familiar smell from the last time she had been in one with Sasuke. And she had been knocked out for a while. Days, perhaps… It felt like days. Because she couldn't remember what had come before the weeks of being in a tormenting place like she was now, metaphorically standing between Sasuke and the Kage. She couldn't think far enough back to before such a deep and restless sleep; a place of absence, of being lost…But soon the pain in her shoulder and abdomen tingled through her, reminding her that they were there and that they weren't leaving anytime soon. Reminding her of what had happened and her head shot up from its slouching position against the back of the thick, wooden chair she was tied to.

Her wrists and ankles wrung against the tightly coiled rope, but she only succeeded in burning her skin against the rope's texture. Quickly giving up, her head whirled again as she shot a glance at her surroundings: the fireplace to her left next to a door which she guessed was the bathroom or closet, The large bed to her right with bay windows leading to a porch (she could make out the tinkling of lights in the distance and the peaks of mountains after them so she concurred that they must have been on the highest floor of the hotel). Until her eyes shot forward at some movement in front of her-

There stood Sasuke – across the length of the hooded room with Naruto behind him (leaning on the wall next to the entrance) and the Kage to his right (a large bandage was tied around his eyes, keeping him from seeing her face and she smiled to herself after realizing it was her who caused his injury), all of them facing her with their backs to the door, waiting for something she could only wonder about.

He stood with an aura of idleness, leaning casually against a heavy, mahogany desk that held nothing upon its surface other than one single box made of thin parchment. "Sakura," he drawled from grimly pressed lips and a tilted head, studying her eyes dart around the room to take in her new surroundings. His voice was humored, if not a little sullen as he straightened himself from his slouch and ran his fingertips adoringly over the shined surface of the hand-carved desk. He was closer to her than the others and she could smell him there: a faintness of salty water and the light musky scent of opium lingering to his clothes, as if he had been near it recently at the docks; probably from doing that job with the Kage that had kept him missing for the last few days. (As long as the Kage was under his control (and vice versa), he was untouchable – everything was allowed for him. Because everyone knew who he was now; everyone knew who he "worked for." Everyone was controlled by his strings – a marionette playing to his own tune. He was the epitome of masterpiece; the picture of grace and beauty; the thrill seeker with a penchant for violence and a closet full of skeletons…His presence demanded awe. The kind of person you hated with every fiber of your being but, at the same time, desired his acceptance. Because he could make you feel mighty with one glance, or feel like the most insignificant creature on earth with just one word. His approval was something to fight for – to kill for. But his disapproval meant condemnation; death… In the land of corruption, murder… money and power- where unforgiving actions brought you everything you ever wished for with absolutely no consequences- he was god).

"You really should have just minded your own business." He intoned to her boredly, as if her kidnapping was merely a tedious affair that he was forced to cooperate in and he wished nothing more than for the mundane task to be over. As if he read her mind he muttered, "If you had just kept your nose to yourself and didn't ask questions, this wouldn't need to happen." He formed a practiced pout on his hard face, the same one he had used to trick her earlier into dropping the knife; and she shivered, fighting again against the rope.

Naruto shifted awkwardly behind him from one foot to the other, giving her a true apologetic glance that she wasn't sure to accept or not. (She wondered about his presence anyway. She thought it strange that he was there now and also at her house to help her the week prior, considering how Brahm tried to keep her away from him at the ball).

So many questions formed on the tip of her tongue but she bit them back when a knock sounded lightly at the door and Naruto looked through the peephole. "It's just Brahm," he sighed in relief. A roguish, crooked smile flooded Sasuke's lips.

"Let him in," the Kage ordered, but Naruto looked to Sasuke for permission instead, knowing better who was truly in charge (and she guessed that the Kage's current blind status was beneficial to someone after all, at least, because if the Kage had seen Naruto ask Sasuke for permission instead, Sasuke's connection with Naruto would have been uncovered considering the Kage had no clue they worked together). The Uchiha nodded his approval and the blond opened the door slowly. Brahm entered cautiously, creating an air of serenity in the otherwise sullen room.

The Uchiha's calculating, watchful gaze was half-lidded in ease and maybe a little tired as well. It drifted across the faces of the room, taking in each expression (Brahm's apprehension from beside him, the Kage's smug smirking and Naruto's cautiousness), until his watch landed on her face, so open with fear and hostility toward him that he wasn't sure how to proceed. So he decided to lighten the mood instead-

"Well," he began, sighing loudly by puffing out his pale cheeks and running a hand through his hair from scalp to neck then back again (he had a habit of doing this whenever he was suppressing something, she noted). "This kidnapping is an unmitigated disaster." Then he straightened to his full height, an arduous sort of height that complimented his elevated social standing, as he turned to regard Sakura with something he had been waiting to say. "I understand that you are new to this kind of thing- so I'll just tell you now that this isn't how hostage situations _usually_go." His sturdy shoulders rolled back from his previously hunched position against the desk, his eyes hard on her with vindication and maybe even resentment….jealousy perhaps. His face hardened before she could discern his expression correctly, ready to get down to business- and with only that single look Sakura could see that it was no longer merely the Kage's underling that stood before her. It was not the monstrous and barely concealed part of Sasuke that was residing within him, simmering beneath the surface at all times, waiting. Eagerly waiting. Crazed and bloodthirsty. And she could suddenly remember why she had been so scared of him when they first met.

It only took one look at Sasuke and Sakura knew that she would not live through the night-

He clicked his tongue suddenly, twisting his head in a jerking motion until it made a popping noise then regarded Brahm with an open gaze. "You can get started, if you'd like," Sasuke said to him then tossed him the box from the desk he had been previously leaning on. Brahm said nothing as he walked to her and kneeled beside the wooden chair she was tied to. "Sorry 'bout this," he shrugged then opened the box, pulling out a thin role of thread and a long needle.


	10. X: Bring Out Your Dead

I do not own Naruto

* * *

Natural Born Killers  
Part X: Bring Out Your Dead

* * *

_When the Beginning is in the End_

_and life is all we know_

_Death would take his mighty scepter_

_and disappear down old Death Row_

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke had always been pale and dark. He leaned against the thick desk with his hands in his pockets and a cigarette perched between his lips- and the smoke billowed upward, never touching his face or marring the bored expression it held; it spread across the ceiling, becoming thinner and thinner until it was unable to be seen anymore. The Uchiha, in his sore displeasure, uttered a sharp, "Get on with it," to Brahm who nodded sheepishly before tying a small knot to the end of the string after getting it through the eye of the needle. He held it over the flame of a lighter to sterilize it quickly. "I don't have all day and I wanna' get this over with before I end up monologue-ing."

She could make out the disappointed shift in the Kage's brow after Sasuke spoke. "It's too bad I'm unable to watch," He admitted, tugging and adjusting the bandage over his wounded eyes. "I'd very much like to see the little Bitch suffer after what she did to me." He snarled out, a growl erupting from between his teeth, making his last three words almost unintelligible.

"Yes," Sasuke agreed, thinking back to something and rubbing his chin where the beginning of a five o'clock shadow was forming. He usually wasn't so scruffy looking, she noticed before he spoke again. He must have been too busy to shave while he was with the Kage at the docks. "I was surprised you were able to come up with something so quickly, Sakura. I have to admit I'm impressed-" He smirked to himself, obviously trying not to laugh and taking advantage of the Kage's lack of sight to suppress his chuckles but retain his upturned expression. "Of all the things you could have done, you chose to blind him. I have to admit," he ran his hand through his hair and set her with an appraising, bark-eyed glance. "Your skills in ingenuity are positively occult-"

"If you're done complimenting my hostage, Sasuke," the Kage growled again. "I'd very much like it if we could continue with the plan."

Sasuke merely nodded, even though it was a useless motion against the temporarily blinded man. He made a swaying motion with his hand at Brahm to continue but the man kneeling beside her seemed hesitant for a moment, weighing up his options before admitting that Sasuke was right.

Sakura watched, breathless and dizzy, Brahm's hands (the calloused, cracked skin of them) as he lifted the long needle, tugging at any snags in the flesh-colored thread until it was flowing perfectly to the floor before he lifted the corner of her shirt until it revealed the open knife-wound of her abdomen. A large bandage had been placed over the gash after the bleeding had stopped, she noticed and Brahm tried unsuccessfully to remove the adhesive corners of the thick padding from her skin without tugging the edges of the seeping wound. The underside had glued itself to the hardened blood clotting the opening, re-tearing the recently closed scab and lifting the dried blood along with it until the wound was nothing but a gaping slice once more, seeping red and causing her muscles to lock in place. It was the only thing she could do to keep from thrashing about hard enough to dislocate her shoulder.

Sasuke mumbled in hushed voices to an affronted Naruto in the background but she couldn't see him through the blur of pained tears covering her eyes, couldn't hear him through the pure ringing in her ears. The Kage, unable to watch but still able to enjoy her gasps and whimpers, repositioned himself closer to get a better ear-shot, half-sitting against the very desk that Sasuke had previously occupied. The contrast between them became unsettling. Sasuke, the beautiful man she loved, who enjoyed seeing her in pain almost as much as he enjoyed his mind-games. The Kage: the man she hated and who hated her back, and wanted her dead. So similar yet so different. Now she knew why the Kage seemed so bent on having Sasuke as his own.

She blinked rapidly, dislodging herself from her thoughts and back to the pain in her side. She would rather deal with the sharp jolts of fire through her skin instead of thinking of Sasuke's feelings toward her. Or, rather, the lack thereof. Because he had never cared about her in any true way, and now she realized that all too clearly. If anything, it seemed that Naruto cared more for her at that moment than the Uchiha ever had. The blond Uzumaki was currently standing near the entrance of the room with Sasuke, facing each other and whispering harshly, but she and the others were too far away to hear what their argument was about. Naruto's fists clenched and his face contorted into anger and…betrayal perhaps? The blond gave her a glance from the corner of his eye, seeing her looking to him with those too-large 'protect me' green eyes of hers. His gaze shied away immediately; as if she burned him with her stare- then he hissed something else at Sasuke between his teeth, gesturing to the Haruno woman as he spoke. And she then knew that they were debating about her. She didn't know what they were talking about her for, but she knew it must have been something she wouldn't particularly like- because Naruto's words were powerful enough to make Sasuke's back tense and his jaw set in a grim line. And before any of them knew it, the Kage spoke again.

"What are you two up to over there on your own?" Said Kage turned to look over his shoulder at all the whispering going on in the corner, keeping his torso facing the Haruno woman just in case he might miss an interesting part of her suffering.

"Er…." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Nothing." He sighed in defeat.

The Kage raised a brow from under his bandages, dubious on whether or not to trust the Uzumaki's wavering reply. "Sasuke?" he questioned the Uchiha instead.

"It was nothing, Otokage." He spoke freely, formally, in that steady you-can-trust-me voice that compelled even the most hardened of people in its time. "Naruto was just consulting me in his thoughts. He worries that the noise might attract unwanted visitors to our humble domain." He uttered sarcastically, earning another scowl from the blond.

"Don't be ridiculous." The Kage muttered, huffing out his irritation but cautiously walked toward them to consult as well, feeling his way to them with his hands while Naruto glanced nervously out the peep-hole of the door.

"Sakura." Brahm's voice cut through the voices on the far side of the 'humble domain,' causing her to jerk her head to face him. He still kneeled beside her on the floor. "You need not worry." He warned sternly, looking back down to the needle he was handling, placing it back into the box for a moment and grabbing a bottle of alcohol and a cotton ball.

"How am I supposed to trust you, Brahm—how am I supposed to know that I shouldn't worry, just because you say I shouldn't?" she breathed wispily, her chest moving fractionally quicker with her shallow breaths and a sheen of sweat taking cover on her skin. "You told me once that you would make sure I wasn't ever in any real danger…." But Brahm didn't answer right away; he merely continued his ministrations, coating the cotton ball with the alcohol and gently dabbing around her wound until the fire roared to life once more, causing her to jerk her head again the other way and hiss in a gulp of air.

"Because, Sakura," he whispered while the Kage was indisposed, arguing with Naruto and shaking his head and hands in furious gestures. "All you have now is trust. And I would rather you put your trust in me or Naruto than Sasuke at the moment." The alcohol cleaned the skin and soon the pain receded back to a dull throbbing. "Now, I'm going to stitch you up but I need you to be quiet while I do so that the Kage doesn't catch on. He doesn't know I'm treating your wounds."

"Why?" she breathed out desperately for answers.

"Because this was my condition with Sasuke the first time I realized you were in on his plan. He promised me that he would keep you alive as long as possible and in return, I would work for him. This is just a plus. I can't have you bleeding out right now. That isn't how things work around here." He picked up the curved needle again, placing it against the open skin and taking a deep breath before pushing it through and back out. It stung the same as the alcohol, but she pushed through as he tugged the string tightly and began the process again and again.

"That's not what I was asking." She gasped quietly and gripped the rope around her hands for leverage against the onslaught as he tightened another tug of the string. "I meant, why should I trust you or Naruto, of all people? Naruto is on Sasuke's side. He's working for him, too, and pretending that the Kage is in charge. Don't think me a fool, I know what's going on and I know that you all want to make the Kage think he's the leader—but it couldn't be further from the truth."

"No, Sakura, I don't think you know what's going on. Not fully, at least." Brahm chided and made another incision, grunting in apology when it hit the tenderest part of the flesh. "It's much more complicated than that. There are inner workings that even I don't know about. They're too interconnected to understand- only Sasuke knows because he is the one who created it…..Naruto is working _for_ Sasuke. But he's also working _with_ me."

"Does Sasuke know about that?" Sakura ogled, peering down at Brahm's brazen, angled face.

"Yes. When was the last time he _didn't _know something?" He clipped and pulled the last of the string through, cutting it and cleaning off his instruments. The Haruno gave a sigh of relief, proud in herself for this little proof of strength.

"And he doesn't care? He doesn't mind that you two are in cahoots?" she was doubtful of Brahm's motives.

"I wouldn't call it 'cahoots,' Sakura." He laughed a little to himself. "We are merely fighting a different battle for the same outcome." He looked back to her face, seeing something there that he hadn't seen in a long time. "You remind me of an old friend." He stated quietly. "And I'm sure Naruto looks at you and sees something similar to a person he once cared about. That fact is, we don't want anyone dying who doesn't need to. You're not the bad person in this whole fucked-up situation so why should you pay the price for Sasuke's cruelty and the Kage's rage?" he pursed his lips, like he thought he had said too much already. "Naruto," he nodded his head toward the blond, still arguing furiously with the Uchiha and Sound's leader. "Is over there defending you. But I don't know if it will work. Sasuke hasn't made up his mind yet whether or not to kill you. Right now, he is merely entertaining the Kage's wishes to please him. You'll just have to put your trust in me and Uzumaki that we might be able to convince him otherwise." He rubbed his tired eyes and stood, turning to walk back to the others.

"Brahm," she called softly and he stopped, half-way facing her body in the chair. "Who do you place your trust in?"

He thought for a moment then shrugged, his face flat with harbored thoughts and memories. "I have no one to trust anymore other than Sasuke." He looked to the raven-haired man standing passively between the others at the door. "I can only hope that he keeps his word…. Whatever his plan is, I hope it works out for you in the end, Sakura. I really do."

"But-"

There is a loud vibrating sound and Sasuke pulls out a black cell-phone from his pocket. "What?" he asks curtly, turning away from the argument next to him. "I hope this is important. I'm kinda' busy here….No….I'll let him know…..It's all according to plan…..No, I'll do it….Because it has to be done and it needs to be done right…" he listens for a moment, staring unseeingly at the wall and she notices that he has been avoiding looking at her. He walks to the Kage and holds out the phone, uttering a low, "Neji wants to talk to you. There seems to have been a problem at the docks while we were gone," before stepping back and placing his hands in his pockets again. The Kage fumbles with the phone in his lack of vision and holds it to his ear, listening for a moment as well before slinging a spur of cusses into the receiver and walking toward the door. He snaps the phone shut and turns in the direction of where he assumes the Uchiha and Uzumaki stand.

"I'll have to leave for a moment. Take care of the situation while I'm gone, Sasuke." The Kage speaks toward the Uchiha's presence, nodding at Sakura's direction to let them know that she is the 'situation' he is speaking of. Sasuke nods to himself and a pit forms in her stomach. "Naruto, I need you to come with me. Be my eyes." To this, Naruto gives her one last fleeting glimpse and leads the Kage out the door and when they are gone Sakura doesn't know whether to laugh or cling to Brahms legs with all her strength like a desperate child.

"I'll leave as well." Brahm admits and Sakura stares pleadingly at him- begging him not to leave.

"Brahm." Her voice breaks and she thinks this might be the end. "Don't leave me here. Please."

But he pays no heed. "Trust is a precarious thing, Sakura." He speaks and Sasuke closes the door behind him when he is gone.

Sakura steadies her breathing, as if quieting herself will make her invisible to the man standing before her. And she can see that Sasuke isn't surprised she didn't tell the Kage about his plan to kill him- Because he knew she would try to take in all of it in her own self-sacrificial insanity. He merely stands there for a moment, taking in her hunched form with the rope squeezing into her wrists. She was sure the lacerations would leave small droplets of blood to stain the illustrious carpeting.

"Where am I?" she wishes she sounded stronger, more resilient, but she has never been strong in his presence. She never could be.

"Borderplouse Estates Hotel. Not very far from home." He says the word home as if he doesn't understand the meaning of it or the gravity that it holds. As if he had never had a home before, and it is merely a word and nothing else. It is hollow, it is cold; just like him. Sasuke had never used that tone with her before. It rung up her back coldly, making her defensive. The atmosphere around them hardened, becoming tense, and her stomach curled tightly in expectation.

"Why am I here, Sasuke?" She has almost given up hope, and trust….and love. Almost. But love remains very hard to destroy. Even while staring into the face of the man she is sure will kill her, her heart constricts and stomach flutters with unsaid things lingering in the pit of her belly.

"You are here to die." Strangely, the words don't hold as much conviction over her as she thought they would. "You don't seem surprised." He tilts his head, watching her closely for what seems like the first time since she arrived in Sound.

"Sasuke," she shakes her head and calls his name (the name that had been lingering on the tip of her tongue for a while now), huffing a little to herself when an ironic smile fetches her mouth. "You have been threatening to kill me since we first met. Of course I'm not surprised."

His eyes aren't as cold as they used to me a moment ago. "Of course." He licks his lips and pulls out his gun. "Silly me."

* * *

A black car careens down an empty alley; its destination unknown to anyone but the diver as the wheels screech crossly in its hurry toward some unspoken place.

"Are you in position?" Brahm's voice takes up the car and he thinks for a moment in the silence that follows that it might be too loud for what he is speaking about; but that doesn't matter because he is alone. He holds his phone to his ear as he drives slowly now, with caution, into the small street toward the meeting place. He turns left, hearing the wheels grind against something on the road under the car, a broken piece of boat wood, perhaps. He hopes quickly that it didn't splinter into the tire—because he is in a hurry and he does not have time for mistakes.

"Yes, Brahm." The man he is speaking to sounds exasperated by the question, his tone coming through the speaker of Brahm's cell and vibrating into his ear canal. The car is too quiet and it grates Brahm's nerves, but he deals with it. Because he has too much to worry about and he has to be able to think; any more noise other than the tires turning on the road would only serve to distract him. And distractions were one way of getting killed. Sasuke had taught him that; the only moral thing the Uchiha had taught him in the long years they had known each other. If it wasn't for those past years of familiarity, he wouldn't be taking orders from the Uchiha.

But, as it was- and he hated to admit it- Sasuke frightened him. Brahm compared the child the Uchiha had used to be to the man he was now and cursed whatever deity had saw it fit to cause such a monstrosity to come into existence. Because he believed in Fate, and believed that Fate had deemed it necessary for the Uchiha's life to go the way it did. But, though Brahm didn't have the guts to question Fate, he had the audacity to blame what had happened to Sasuke's Mother on it. If his Mother hadn't been so sick (so sick in the head that it should have been criminal to let her raise a child), Sasuke wouldn't have been forced to love her and she wouldn't have been forced to mold him into something destined for Hell. Destined for greatness, as well- but the wrong kind (Always the wrong kind of anything, when it concerned him). The kind of greatness that ends worlds, that begins wars that do not end; The kind of thing created by hate and raised by insanity, then unleashed upon the will-less to govern more evil. Until nothing remains but death, and obsession…..and the loss of innocence. And it was the potential loss of that very innocence that frightened Brahm most about the Uchiha—and it was also why he was fighting against Sasuke's plan so fervently to save the Haruno woman.

Because Sakura reminded him of an innocence he missed every second of every clouded day. It was too late for Sasuke, and it was too late for himself, and maybe even Naruto as well. But he refused to believe that it was too late for Haruno Sakura. Because she didn't come into this situation- this curse- from doing evil. She was brought here by love and trust, and purity; and that was enough to fight for…to die for….right?. "I wouldn't let our boss down, would I?" the voice from the other line tickles Brahm's ear again and he can't help but to imagine the arrogant smirk taking over the face of the man speaking. A smirk that would remind him slightly of the raven-haired Uchiha's.

And again his thoughts turned to the chaos that was Uchiha Sasuke. The chaos that had been inherent in the Uchiha blood for as long as anyone he knew could remember- until twelve years ago, when Sasuke (as a troubled but strong-willed ten-year-old boy with a mind much older than his young years) had become the only living member of his family left. He wondered if Sasuke still blamed his Father for that, or if he blamed himself for killing his Father in revenge for his Mother's murder. He doubted that, but he still had room in himself for hope that Sasuke would someday realize that the blame was partly his as well. It was only a little room that Brahm had in himself for that hope, but it was there and there was no getting rid of it. And he wasn't sure he wanted to. Because, just like he had told Sakura not even an hour before, hope and trust was all that they were left with now.

He shook his head, trying to concentrate on thinking about something else. Anything else… He hated feeling sorry for the Uchiha. He hated feeling sorry for himself.

"Good. I will be arriving at the designated time. I should pull up in thirty seconds. Be wary." He speaks again into the speaker of the cell, flipping it shut with a loud clack without waiting for an answer and throwing it into the passenger seat where small splatters of Sakura's blood was dried to the seats—neither he nor Sasuke had found the time to clean it yet. They had taken her body from the floor of his room and into the car, and then to the hotel she was currently being held in. He shook his head again to think clearly, but it didn't seem to be working whenever he did it. His thoughts continued to stray to the Haruno's and Uchiha's strange relationship with each other, even after he rubbed his tired eyes until his vision became blurry.

Once he blinks furiously and can see clearly again, Brahm turns the headlights off- the crooked road he seems to travel down so much lately is cast into familiar darkness; he finds himself driving so sluggishly that it is as if the car is not moving at all and pulls into the shadow cast by a large, wooden hut where local fishermen store their nets and slickers. A tree stands, slouching but imposing all the same, next to the dilapidated hut and Brahm is thankful that it helps to shroud him in the unknown of darkness. But he does not know where it came from- trees like that don't grow next to docks or ocean, especially not in sand. "Cross your fingers." He whispers to himself, hoping for Fate to forgive his earlier criticisms and bless him with luck as he pulls his keys out of the ignition, the engine becoming as silent as the night surrounding the docks and ocean spanned out in front of his parked car. There is only noise of lapping water against the wooden dock and crashing waves in the distance of the beach a few hundred yards away. Brahm sits, waiting, and breathing in the salty air through his open window while he gazes across the small expanse of sand to the dock directly before him- where the silhouette of his accomplice from the phone resides, shutting his own phone when he squints through the shadows and sees a strange car pull up, placing the cell in his pocket and patting it to make sure it's there. He sighs in relief when he recognizes the familiar hand of Brahm lurk out the window and give a half-assed wave before disappearing into the car where it belonged.

They stay in their positions, not looking at each other again- just in case they are being watched. Stealth—another thing Sasuke had taught him, though he can't say he's thankful for that. It came with a lot of unwanted territory….unwanted responsibilities.

The silhouette walks back and forth a few times in impatience or perhaps nervousness (After all, one simple slip-of-the-tongue or miscalculation will end in their deaths). "Easy, now," Brahm whispers to himself, willing the man on the dock to hear him and listen, but life doesn't work like that. "Don't fidget." Brahm's hands wring around the steering wheel in his effort to telepathically send his order to the man. "We don't want to look suspicious to anyone." His eyes strain almost painfully with his plea as he stares through the dark to try and discern the man from the night sky as a cloud passes in front of the moon, cutting off what little helpful light it gave. For a moment, he thinks the man disappeared but then the dark black—darker black than even the night— fabric of his suit swaying in the soft breeze becomes visible again and he feels relief in his throat. But almost immediately after Brahm makes out the outline of the man's body, the silhouette stills, stopping immediately in his tracks when he hears something coming toward him slowly—heavy footsteps thudding on the wood of the dock. The straight approach of a man who knows where he is going, though he cannot see where he is going. Brahm watches the approaching man stop next to the silhouette of his accomplice on the dock, turning toward him and feeling around with his hands to make sure someone is there. His hand rests on the suited man's shoulder then is retracted just as quickly when he is sure he is standing in the right place. The new arrival opens his mouth to greet the first man in the suit. Brahm holds his breath, trying to listen to the conversation between the two through his window and hoping that the unsuspecting visitor does not have any unexpected company with him. Brahm feels the cloak of precious desperation in him at the thought and surveys the area that he can actually see, not finding any threat. Only the other driver in the car that brought the new arrival. The other driver nods to him in recognition and Brahm feels his uneasiness quickly melt away.

So, Sasuke had kept his word after all. It turns out that his hope and trust in the Uchiha were enough… for now. Enough, at least, for Sasuke to eliminate the trouble the driver would have caused by recruiting him to their side as well. If only the Kage knew how hopelessly, hilariously out-witted he was….how every one of his men were no longer working for him- merely pretending to.

Just how far did the Uchiha's reach spread? How many people were influenced by his manipulation? Brahm did not know. What he did know was that Sasuke had no reason to take orders from anyone anymore, because everyone was working for him now. Just like he had planned. So there was no reason for this man to live anymore.

"Sasuke told me there was a problem at the docks. What's so important to interrupt my work, Neji?" The Kage speaks finally to the first silhouette in the black suit, using his usual tone- the one that Brahm didn't care much for. The one that sounded like crackling leaves.

Neji turns to the second silhouette as well, not speaking for a moment. He must be wondering why a cast of bandages were wrapped around his eyes, but he put musings aside after the brief thought. He still said nothing.

"Well?" The Kage eggs him on, becoming rapidly impatient. "Get on with it. I have something that I don't want to miss and you're wasting my time."

Neji's face is impassive, as usual- and reminds Brahm again of a certain Uchiha's similar attitude. His hair is tied behind his neck and hangs languidly down his shoulder-blades over the back of his black suit. Suddenly, the Hyuuga takes in a deep breath and sighs, which Brahm finds strange (Neji Hyuuga has never been known for idle chit-chat before, so why all the theatrics?). But Brahm's character-musings about the Hyuuga are cut short by Neji's quiet reply:

"I have a message for you from your Sasuke." He informs fluidly, then takes a metal bar from beside him on a wooden barrel against the hut and plummets it into the side of the Kage's head, sending him to the ground.

* * *

She can't help the shivering.

It started in her fingertips then followed to her arms until her whole body convulsed; though it was barely at all, it was still noticeable in her small form. She didn't know why it did, it just did. And this confused her even more. Because she didn't feel scared, so why was she shaking?

Sasuke glanced at her as he poured himself a small glass of scotch, crooning in his filthy ways at her when her body's movements caught his attentions as well. Surely, what was merely something strange to Sakura would be seen as weakness to him. So she wasn't surprised when he spoke the very words she expected from him. "Don't you ever get tired of being so weak?" He didn't look her in the eye, keeping turned half-away and staring unseeingly at the wall as he sipped his beverage.

Her lungs hitched when she tried to speak the first time; nothing coming out of her opened, parted lips. She licked them and tried again.

"Let me be weak, Sasuke." Her pleading made its way to his ears and his arm stopped for a moment in mid-air as he was about to take another sip. "Just this once." It only affected him for a moment, however, and he took greedy gulps instead of his usual way of drinking, and then refilled his glass.

This time he filled the glass completely, walking to her where she was still strapped to the chair in the center of the room and she was amazed by how he didn't spill any on the floor. The gun in his hand lifted against his head and he scratched his scalp with the barrel as he watched her watching himself. He ignored her plea from a moment ago, giving her a few words of his own. "You would be quite beautiful, Sakura, if you didn't scowl or plead so much."

The Haruno tries to not be surprised by his unexpected compliment, but her eyes still widen in jeopardy and she curses them. "You would be quite beautiful, Sasuke, if you weren't you." She breathes, swallowing air when she expects him to do something strange; hit her or shoot her…or maybe stab her again. But he does not.

"Oh, really?" he snickers and it echoes into the glass at his lips, making the liquid vibrate a little. "Is that what you think or are you just saying that to humor me? Because compliments would get you much farther…"

"Not far enough to make you spare my life, though." She scowled on purpose, brooding over his previous statement. "Are you going to stab me again? Is that how you're going to do it? You're going to kill me again?"

"I never killed you, Sakura—not physically, at least." He admonished to himself and she wasn't sure who he was trying to fool anymore.

"No, not physically," She agreed. "But words whispered through false pretenses lose their charm. It was a different part of me that died after you were finished with me – when you left me there with the Kage to die. You had no right to disarm me in this way." Her blood rose with adrenaline, waiting to see his reaction.

"I had every right, Sakura. Because you allowed it to happen. You had so many opportunities to leave, but you never even tried." His eyes glinted in the light of the ceiling when he tilted his head like that. "This is your own fault. And I think you stayed because you enjoyed it- you just won't admit it to yourself." A smile grew upon his face as if it were being carved into the stone right in front of her. "You're just as sick as me."

"I'm nothing like you." She shook his words from her head savagely before they could invade her, just how all his other words in the last month had.

"Then what other excuse can you make for yourself? Why else would you have come back to Sound for me?"

She cannot help the unsteady breath she takes in or the way her face contorts into shame and dishonor. So she crouches her head to look at her lap where most of the blood is still dried into her silk nightgown, hoping to become invisible again. Because she would give anything for him to not see her face at that moment.

"Oh," Sasuke exclaims, placing his glass onto the edge of the desk where it settles and clanks with the ice floating chaotically inside. "Because of love?" He laughs to himself, bending forward until his nose almost touches her own and forcing her to face him with his mere presence alone, placing his hands on the armrests at either side of her smaller body. "Is it because you love me, Sakura?" He tries to hide his amusement behind a firm line of his mouth, but she can see it in his eyes that he finds her a joke. Nothing but a child with childish, useless emotions that she cannot defeat. Because she is too weak to even fight against them, let alone him.

"Stop it!" she thrashes against the back of the seat—anything to get away from his discerning stare, afraid that he will read more from her eyes than he already has. "Why do you keep doing this to me?" she knows she is becoming hysterical, fighting righteously against the bindings on her wrists and ankles and ignoring the burning of the rope riding against her sensitive skin. "What have I ever done to deserve it? I have only ever done _everything_you've asked me and more-"

"Stop making excuses for yourself. This isn't some fairytale….this is reality, people die." He speaks as if he has given this speech before. "It just so happens that the one who will die tonight is you. It seems that you survived long enough to fulfill your purpose, after all. Congratulations." His voice is too dark to be giving awarding words or condolences. He was incapable of meaning what he said anyway. He never meant anything he ever said, she realized with hatred seeping into her fingertips. But she couldn't hate him (she never could). She only hated herself. He stands straight and steps back a little, giving her space to finally breathe when he notices she is holding her breath.

"Then what happens when you kill me, Sasuke?" She raises her eyes to stare into his face; the confused expression he seldom wore was there for a moment before he regained himself. "What happens when you get rid of the only humanity you have left? When you're all alone – truly alone – and you know it's because you can't admit to yourself that you enjoy feeling like you belong to a family again, with me?"

"Are you trying to manipulate me, Sakura?" the same half-smile that she used to melt at seeing played on his lips. "Are you toying with my mind - because that's my job and I don't appreciate you using the memory of my Mother to try and override my authority-" he pretends to be serious but she can see the joy her suffering brings in the color of his skin.

"I'm not toying with you, Uchiha." She spits out the name and hopes he remembers how she used to only use it when they first met- when she hated him. "I'm trying to make you realize that you need me more than you think…"

He laughs again, a boisterous noise that she is not used to hearing from him, and that fact brings more terror to her than his professions of her upcoming murder. "Oh, this is rich." He croons, whipping the corner of his eye with his finger as if eliminating a joyous tear. "You're more like me than I previously conceived, Sakura. I believe more congratulations are in order, if that's the right sentiment."

"Stop saying that. I'm nothing like you!" She thrashes again, hoping that enough force will snap the chair and rid her of his presence. "Stop it!" She begs and pleads, wishing that someone would hear her through the walls and come to save her. But no one ever comes. Why doesn't anyone ever come? Why hasn't anyone come looking for her? Tsunade or anyone from her life in Konoha…..she never contacted Tsunade when she arrived like she was supposed to, but they never seemed to care.

"Why?" his face is close to hers again, forcing her to look at him and his heartbreakingly uncaring smile or his wide eyes filled with excitement. Always the wrong kind of excitement that floods his face. "Because you know it's true?" She jerks her head back and forth to get as far away from him as possible in the space he confines, but he matches her each time.

"No. Get away from me!" She cannot find her breath in the onslaught of his accusations and she is starting to wonder if it really is true of not. His gun is out of his belt and in his hand, pressed against her new stitches and digging in. She can feel the thread separating and threatening to split the flesh in tatters once again. A gag makes its way out of her throat when she pictures what the contorted skin would look like and soon she is dry-heaving, a panic attack racking her chest and she is sure she will die from the adrenaline alone.

"Because it eats you up inside?" His scent is on her skin; he is gently moving her hair with the tip of his nose and she can feel his breath and lips graze her jaw (he moves so gently that she is not sure what is going on anymore and her mind is chaotic in the storm of her chest bubbling and heart racing. The adrenaline that she expected would eventually subside keeps coming and she begins shuddering harder, nowhere for her to escape and her fight-or-flight mechanism in her brain yells at her to run. Because even it knows she has no chance of fighting. Her body wants to flee…and scream and thrash about, but she has no room to move with him pinning her so. The ropes are too tight and her skin has finally broken beneath it, small trickles of blood dripping down her fingers and pooling at the tips until, overflowing, they sputter into the carpeting. She hears his calm voice jut into her ear and the words are so foreign to her that she wonders if they are being whispered by him or her dark subconscious- the voice that hates her in the back of her mind, constantly evoking her need for his presence….her need for the protection that she imagined he was providing her with by hiring Brahm. But now she was sure….she was never meant to live through this, right? He planned on killing her the moment he first saw her in that room with Kura. He didn't kill her on the bus because he needed her alive longer than that. She still didn't know why tonight was the night necessary for her death. After all, what had she accomplished for him that she hadn't done before? What was accomplished in his plan that made it so he no longer needed her? Or was she even in his plan at all?

"Shut up!" She tried to yell but finds that for some reason she is whispering, too. And she can't make her body thrash against him anymore, it is almost too exhausted.

"Because the truth is that you are jealous of me," His gun clicks, turning the safety off, and his other hand find itself placed upon her upper thigh to hold him hovering over her ear, and she tries - she really does – to not breath in his scent. She is afraid that if she does, she will forgive him for all of this. She doesn't want to. "You're angry that you're still tied down by the strings of your humanity." His tone is no longer questioning. He knows he has her, helpless as always, in front of him and he can do whatever he pleases—say whatever he pleases.

She turns, in one last desperate move, pressing her cheek against his and she feels him tighten and still at the unexpected contact. "Sasuke," it is barely a noise from her constricted throat. "Please, stop-"

His hand leaves her thigh to find homage against the pale expanse of her neck, shutting off her ability to speak. He wonders how she always finds the voice that makes his skin crawl strangely; so similar to the melodic voice of his Mother from so long ago. She chokes quietly, sucking in a raspy, forced gulp of air from beneath his long fingers. "I know how you secretly feel, Sakura." He almost threatens and pulls her face to his so he can see her eyes; the eyes that give him all of these answers that he knows. "Is that too hard to believe? Is it so hard to believe that I was once like you – starving for the love of someone but never close enough to attain it?" His stare darkens black and his fingers constrict a little more—she wonders if he is speaking about his Mother or his Father. Sakura is not sure whether the black dots taking over her vision are a blessing or a curse but the pain in her side underneath the barrel of the gun takes precedence until he speaks again. "Or you just don't want to believe it? You don't want to look at me and see your future self – what you could so easily become. You have everything you need right here." He takes the gun from her abdomen and places it against her temple to emphasize. She could feel the blood on the barrel from her wound drip and soak into the skin the cool metal touches. "All you have to do is embrace it-"

She cuts him off again: "That will never happen!" She spits the words, feeling his hand press harder and her head knock into the back of the chair's thick, strong wood. "I'll never let that happen."

"Oh, but it _will_happen, Sakura." He releases her from his grasp and takes the gun from her skin, setting it aside gently onto the desk next to his glass. He looks knowingly down upon her pale face, and his eyes are how they used to be when things weren't so complicated. But they soon glaze over with settled hatred again before she can make up her mind on what he is seeing in her face to make them turn that way. "All you need is a little push in the right direction." He picks up the glass and finishes its contents then tosses it across the room. It bounces once against the plush carpet then shatters against the paneling it hits by the bathroom door. "I know you feel it there – the same way I did when I was young. It's just waiting to be set free."

"You don't know anything about me!"

"Don't I?" he pulls up a rather heavy chair- its feet dragging against the ground and making treading marks in the floor's fabric- setting it in front of her so he can face her. He sits backward on its seat with his legs open around the back-board, crossing his arms and placing them to rest on top of the back. "I know how you feel, how you think – I know _everything_about you, Sakura. That how I know it's there in you, as well."

"No, it's not-"

"It's there all the time, driving us to wander in the streets." His eyes widen with momentary lapse of control, some chilling emotion she had never seen come into his expression; an awe-inspiring gratitude and faithfulness to what he is speaking of. "I _know_you feel it, too. Otherwise you wouldn't have come back to me—you came to Sound because you crave it all as well, everything I could give to you. If only you would just give in and admit it to yourself-"

"Never-"

He gives her a straight look and a chiding "tsk" at her suspiciously immediate denial. "You can sense it so deeply inside that you wonder if it is a part of you, or if it simply latched onto you one day, feeding you strange images in the dark…." His hands grasp the wood of the backrest and clench so tightly that his knuckles crack. "It follows you, silently, but you can feel it there. It's you, hunting yourself—and you want to run…" She can't tell anymore if he is speaking about her, or if he is speaking about himself. His eyes turn inward on something inside his own soul that she cannot see. "To escape from yourself, but you cannot outrun it. Even through the endless streets, it chases you. And it is impossible to escape it, once it takes hold of you." His voice hitches when he regains himself, staring unabashedly into her green eyes with a heat that sears her tongue to dart out and wet her dry lips. "And you're forced to act upon it—forced to act upon the urges until you kill whatever put that feeling there in the first place. You're forced to kill, to act…how you must….must, but don't want to. But you must…" Then there is silence except for the ticking of a clock somewhere she cannot see. His breathing evens again when he realizes everything he had said, his eyes becoming confused from his professions, his secret admissions of weakness and inability of refusal. She can see the pulse in his neck, quick and steady from his upheavals, the excitement still dwindling in his eyes but covered then mostly by his bafflement.

"I won't let myself become that person, Sasuke." Her voice is soft, because she doesn't know why but she feel she needs to console him, to sooth him from his admissions. Because she can see that he does not want to be alone anymore, and that is the only reason she has lived this long. He does not want to be the only one who feels it lurking there inside himself. "I have to stay who I am now…for your sake, not my own." For a moment, she thinks she hears him sigh in relief or defeat. "I don't mind that you're crazy or empty or that I'm always scared. Because you can't help it, right?" Sakura laughs hollowly to herself, releasing her teeth from worrying her cracked, dry lips. "So I'll take it all in for you—all of the pain, the loneliness, the hurt – because you're incapable of receiving it. And that is why it is _you_ that is the jealous one. Because you weren't able to fight it off and keep your humanity." He isn't looking at her anymore, and she hopes that it is because her words hold some effect on him. "You were so young that you weren't strong enough to keep it at bay- but I _am_ strong enough. And you're threatened by my strength….aren't you?"

* * *

The Kage's body convulses violently after the bar makes contact with his temple and Neji sighs, pulling out his wallet and shoving it into the Kage's mouth, preventing him from biting off his tongue. He then sits on top of the Kage's body, trying to imprison the convulsions in an effort to keep him from hurting himself any more than necessary.

Brahm waits until Neji stands and retrieves his wallet from the unconscious Kage's jaw, giving it a sad look at the engravings of his teeth and the saliva riddling the otherwise flawless leather. He takes his belongings out of the wallet purposefully, placing them in the suit pocket that holds his phone then lazily tossing the wallet into the ocean, no longer having any desire to keep the defiled property. Then he watches as the Hyuuga nods to the Kage's driver in the other car and the man opens his door, joining the Hyuuga on the dock. They both stare down at the Kage's limp body, their hands in their pockets. "Can I kick him?" The other driver asks, not really expecting an answer to his dry sarcasm.

But Brahm turns on his own car again, the headlights illuminating the three bodies on the dock and the two standing men hold up their hands against the unexpected light, squinting through it to see Brahm open his door and step out. The automatic dinging sound almost echoes off the sand until he shuts the door and walks to the dock as well, joining them in standing above the Kage's body. "I don't think that would be a good idea." Brahm finally answers the man, turning to him. "I am Brahm," he greets formally, holding out his hand.

The man takes it and shakes strongly, introducing himself as well. "Shikamaru," He nods tightly, all business and no play. "Shikamaru Nara." He yawns, strangely enough in the stressful job they are sharing, as if he is utterly bored with assaulting government officials. "Sasuke recruited me and Naruto filled me in on the details. That's why I am here."

Brahm nods curtly. "This is Neji Hyuuga," Brahm motions to the white-eyed man standing silently, looking out to the ocean. The Hyuuga nods in respect, not looking their way. "Where is Naruto?" Brahm questions the Nara after ignoring Neji's rudeness.

"He is staying at the hotel with Sasuke, keeping watch at the front doors. When you arrive at the hotel again with the body he will take the car and park it in a designated area where population is less dense. Then I will inform Sasuke of the job's success." It is silent for a moment while the other two men think over their options. The Nara merely clears his throat, trying to find a few words to say. "So," he whistles. "Who brought the rope?"

Without answering—calm and silent as ever—Neji walks into the hut and rummages around for a moment, using his phone for the small aid of light it gives, then emerges back to their sides, rope in hand and blank expression on his eclectic face. "I'm sure that after everything we've done tonight, stealing a few rolls of rope won't condemn our souls."

"Why, Neji," Shikamaru cajoles playfully, taking the rope from the Hyuuga man and handing some to the Brahm man, then the two of them bending down and getting to work. Brahm chooses the hands and Shikamaru takes the feet, coiling the rope around the appendages tightly and securing a skillful knot. "I had no idea you were so sentimental….or that you had a sense of humor." He snickers lackadaisically, yawning again and stifling it with the back of his hand.

"I wasn't joking." Neji answers coolly. "It was merely an observation."

"A fine observation it was, Hyuuga." Brahm states agreeably. "But we should all get past the pleasantries and haul this piece of shit to the car." He runs a hand through his hair, forehead to nape then back again. It is a habit he has picked up from the Uchiha. "After all, Sasuke is waiting…. And I am guessing that he will appreciate knowing that everything has gone according to plan." He lets out a great sigh, his tension almost gone, and his cheeks puff from the outward blowing of air. He curses silently when he notices how many things he does that the Uchiha does as well. But he just chops it up to knowing him for so long. After all, Sakura had picked up on some of the same things as well. Even the way she speaks seems to gravitate around him now. And the way she moves, so different from when he had first approached her at the bus station.

But it wasn't only them. It was Sasuke, as well. The Uchiha had changed recently, becoming more closed-off than he already was. He did not play anymore like he had in the beginning (a memory of the Uchiha's childish behavior in the car while Brahm had taken Sasuke and the Haruno woman to that club took over his mind momentarily). Now he played with minds, not words. And Brahm wondered what had happened between the Uchiha and Haruno to make him so calloused toward her—so reluctant to banter with her the same way he had before. There was something unspoken between them still that Brahm could feel, but nobody knew what it was yet. Nobody could point out an 'elephant in the room' if they could not see that it was there. Or if they didn't want to admit that it was there.

Brahm rubs his eyes hard again until his vision is blurry, and then flutters his lids to see straight. He bends down and supports the upper body of the Kage, motioning for the Nara to do the same. They carry the Kage's heavy weight to Brahm's car where the Hyuuga opens the latch of the back door, ushering them forward and they toss him in, locking the door in case their new hostage were to awaken.

"Well, then," Shikamaru mumbles. "It seems that you don't need us any longer. We'll take our leave."

Brahm walks around the car to the driver's-side door and nods to them, sending them on their way. Then he lowers himself into the seat and shuts himself in, watching until the other two men get into the Kage's escort car and leave.

Brahm waits for a moment, doing nothing but breathing and reveling in the good fortune of the evening so far, until enough is enough and he removes the emergency break, pulling away from the docks and driving back down the alley he had come through, making his way back to the hotel to meet up with Sasuke and Sakura. Whether she would be alive or dead, he did not know yet. He could only trust.

* * *

She breathes. But he doesn't answer her question. He merely smirks in how own salacious way and removes himself from her presence by stepping back a few feet. She does not know whether or not she should ask him the question again or if she should die silently. But his phone vibrates again before she comes to a conclusion.

"Hn?" he answers it, as usual, with no nonsense, his brown pinched slightly.

'_Everything went well and we have arrived in the designated area. What will you have me do?'_ The Haruno can slightly make out Brahm's voice from the other side of the phone, his voice as frothy as always. The Uchiha thinks for a moment, glancing at her green eyes then away just as quickly.

Sasuke sighs in relief- a thing she had never readily seen him do. "You stay there and I'll meet with you." His tone is clipped, though not as harbored as it used to be while the outcome of the night was still an unknown.

'_Is Sakura still with you?'_ the disembodied voice questions. It is a loaded question, meaning that Brahm merely wishes to know if the pink woman is still alive. _'Did you-'_

"No. She's here." There is a pause wherein no one says anything. Then: "….That will no longer be necessary." The raven man answers a question that Sakura had been too preoccupied by her thoughts to hear. "I need to be there when it happens. I have to be the one to do it…yes…..I'll be there in a moment. Keep the car running. Shan't be long." He smirks, his old joking tone coming back to lighten his face with ease. And for a moment she thought that maybe it could be like the old times again. But she doesn't let the longing idea take too much of her.

She doesn't breathe when he turns to her and finally looks her in the eye. "Are you ready?" His question is soft.

"I guess." She wishes she would have known something better to say. Something more memorable. "As ready as any girl can be." Her heart is surprisingly not pounding in her chest as he handles the gun and walks toward her until she can almost smell the bullets in the chamber. She clenches her eyes and her stomach to keep the bile from rising higher as she can make out the shadows behind her eyelids, he must be raising his arm. She finds herself becoming impatient, because he is taking too long and the anticipation is the worst part.

"Here goes nothing." He mutters and she doesn't know if she hears the metal of the gun clicking as he messes with it or if it is a different sound, but it is unwelcome all the same. The bullets are being slid into the chambers, she can hear the slicing sound as they hit the bottom and settle in. Then the switch of the safety is triggered and the shadows in front of her eyes return, his movements becoming quicker, less sluggish. He stands behind her shifts his weight somewhere. She cannot see what he is going but she imagines the worst.

The executioner and the executed.

* * *

His eyes flashed, opening slowly and cautiously as his body alerted him to the sickly swaying motion of the car he found himself in.

He lay on his side, his cheek plastered against the feel of cold, finely-upholstered leather; he tried to lift his head but his body felt oddly heavy and precariously weak. And the rough twining of the rope around his wrists and ankles made it only that much harder to function properly. So, he kept his face down upon the cool leather seats, hoping it would warm from his skin's temperature soon. Using only his vision to survey his surroundings, all he could make out for certain was the pink hair of the person in the seat next to his resting head, smiling proudly down upon him when she noticed he was awake. She turned toward the seat across from hers and spoke: "He's waking up. We should hurry and get this over with. No playing around."

His eyes continually unfocused- irritatingly blurry and useless at times- and he could barely make out shapes and colors of everything else around himself. But he assumed, when he heard an obviously male voice in the seat across from the pink-haired woman (what was her name again? His hazy brain couldn't give him an answer), that the other shape had been human.

He rubbed his eyes on the leather, using so much strength for such a simple task, so that he might see better through the film covering his vision. It didn't work.

He was only able to recognize the face of the man across from him when the man leaned in over him, smiling down at him the same way the woman had. It was only a flicker of a glimpse but it was enough time to recognize a face like that. _Sasuke_.

He watched as the Uchiha leaned back into his own seat - smiling triumphantly with the same shit-eating-grin he usually wore when he knew he was right – and kicked up his feet, placing them to rest upon the tied man's stomach and lacing his hands behind his head.

The car careened through the narrow, cobblestone streets of the historical downtown area of Sound, hidden by the miserable shadows as the car either fled or was approaching something monstrous. The automobile made its hasty and unsteady way across the town, sliding and skidding around sharp turns and oblivious of the dirty rain-water from the pavement splashing unceremoniously upon the sleek paint and rough rubber tires.

"Brahm," the deep voice of the Uchiha in the adjacent seat sounded frolicsomely, bringing the tied man's attention back to Sasuke. "We need to go faster." Sasuke knocked his knuckles against the window in boredom, the same expression he always held still set on his face. Like he knew something everybody else didn't, and it was something he particularly was amused about knowing.

The driver, Brahm, bellowed back a few choice words, pressing harder on the gas and sending the car faster and faster down the unsure path. The ferocious growling of the engine was drowned out by the pouring tempest rains outside.

And although the still slightly blurry form of Sasuke showed him that the raven-haired man's shoulders were relaxed and jaw unclenched, he found the Uchiha's intense gaze cleaving to him, scrutinizing him; weighing his worth on unbalanced scales. His intelligent gaze- his irregular demeanor- screamed nuisance. An essence of menace, lurking in the seat just two feet in front of him. A delinquent towering over them with a Cheshire smile and cigarette perched between parted lips.

"Maybe…." The pink-haired woman - the one he still couldn't figure out the name of – thought uncertainly, as if she were expecting a backlash from Sasuke. She licked her dry lips. "Maybe we should slow down…" she carefully wondered, swallowing hard. Her tone was offhand, as if she didn't really expect her advice to have any effect on the driver's speed. She was entirely comfortable around the Uchiha, like she wasn't surprised by his suffocating aura- or perhaps was evolved to it by now; an ataraxia developed over time.

"Don't be ridiculous," the Kage heard Sasuke answer ramosely and the Uchiha flicked a match, lighting his cigarette. He opened the window by the Kage's tied feet, soaking his shoes with the rain that came in. Sasuke smiled cockily again, looking down at the Kage's bound body lying upon the seating. "You always say such silly things," his tone was filled with deprecation as he stared unabashedly at the roseate woman until her breath hitched and she looked away out the window swarming with an ocean of rainwater. He frowned at her reaction.

The woman, in return, huffed and crossed her arms as if they were having a silent argument. "I'm not silly!" she mumbled lowly to herself, obviously not looking for an answer.

He gave one anyway. "No. Just the things you say are."

"They are not."

"Hn." He sounded unconvinced by her riveting upheaval.

There was a long, pregnant pause wherein nothing happened other than the lurching of the car through the streets and the pink woman rubbing her wrists, bandages over the slight gashes there from earlier. The Uchiha eyed her actions and raised a questioning brow. "What are you doing?"

She seemed immediately agitated by his response to her movements without any cause. "It hurts." She cut out, not looking at him and glaring at anything else; silently blaming him for her injuries.

"Don't mess with it or it won't heal." He cut back, blowing a long puff of smoke at her face. "If you're that angry about it, I could have easily left you there. You'll do well to remember that. I don't usually spare lives, especially annoying ones like yours. I could so easily change my mind again- in a split second- and kill you. So maybe you should be thanking me…. don't-cha' think?"

She threw out a sigh, no longer finding a reason to argue and remembering how easily it was for him to make the last-minute-decision to simply let her go instead of taking her life. So she only found it plausible that the opposite could happen just as easily. "I'm fine. _Thank you_." The Kage got the impression that she didn't mean it at all. But she must not have been very good at sarcasm. Either that or the Uchiha didn't understand her sarcasm very well because he still answered her as if she had been serious.

"Oh, you're very welcome." His voice purred over the filter of his cigarette. "After all, you weren't the one I wanted to kill." He explained, leering a sneer at the Kage's hunched form accusingly. "So, Kage," this time he addressed the tied man instead of the pinkette. "How are you feeling? I understand that you took a heavy blow to the head recently."

The Kage replied by a string of curses, muffled by the tape over his mouth. He lurched his body in fury, but Sasuke's feet resting upon his stomach still halted his actions when the Uchiha pressed down hard, causing the Kage to gag and swallow down the contents of his stomach that rose from the pressure.

"Now, now," The Uchiha chided, clicking his tongue in reprove. "Don't be a sore loser. It just ended up that Sakura was more useful than you. You shouldn't have been fool enough to believe that I would send her away. After all, it's kinda' like her and Brahm are my little Swiss Family Nightmare now. Right, Sakura?" He smiled sickly-sweet at her but she wasn't looking at him anymore.

The Kage lurched again at the insults but this time the pinkette restrained him by jerking the rope around his wrists, contorting his shoulders in the wrong direction until she heard them pop. "If this is your way of asking me to marry you, Sasuke, you've really gone insane. I won't say yes just because you're letting me live-"

"Oh, Sakura, Sakura," he chided. "If I was gonna' marry you, you'd know it." He extended his arm and poked her on the nose, to which she brooded silently. "Besides, one fitting deed does not a relationship make." He spoke colloquially, in his old-fashioned tongue.

Then, the car stopped and the salty smell of ocean came through the open window, mingling with the rain and infecting the space they all resided in.

"Why did you have to go through this whole stupid "plan thingy" just to kill him? You should have just done it my way and gotten rid of him the first chance you got." Sakura mused as she leaned over the Uchiha's body to unlock the door when he didn't make the motion to do it himself and she was getting annoyed with his lack of action.

"First of all," he didn't lean back away from her when she crossed over him like he would have done if it were anyone else. He turned his face a little to the left until he was speaking in her ear. "Your plan was laughably transparent- whereas mine was…" he sucked in a breath through his teeth, nuzzling her hair with his nose. "…. _Exquisitely_ convoluted." He snickered wickedly when she shivered and sat back in her seat next to the Kage. "Second of all, it's not that easy." He grabbed the handle of the door and jerked it open, stepping out into the rain. Sakura watched him as he took a calm, chilling moment to enjoy general splendor of the dock's appearance before walking to the other side of the car, opening the door hatch and dragging out the Kage's body by the rope around his feet and hoisting him over his shoulder.

The Kage struggled futilely in the short walk to the docks- docks that he had never seen before. They must have been on the west side of the city instead.

His screams of protest were muffled again by the damned tape when the Uchiha threw him off of his shoulder to collide with the wet wooden surface of the unfamiliar territory, pulling out his gun, ripping off the tape from his mouth for the Kage to speak and unknotting his wrists, leaving the ankles tied.

"If you kill me, you'll only be killing yourself, Sasuke!" The Kage choked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and spitting a good deal of blood onto the withered wood of the dock beside him. The rain washed it away quickly as it dissolved into the clear water, the red color diminishing until there was no sign of it left. "They'll come looking for me- and when they find out what you did, they'll hunt you down." He chuckled, believing to have the upper hand. "They'll kill you and your little pink-haired bitch." The Uchiha answered the Kage's outpour by cocking his weapon and holding it steadily toward him as he sat defenselessly on the ground beneath the raven-haired man. The Kage looked up at his grave expression, raindrops falling into his eyes and causing him to blink rapidly in order to see. "But you already knew that, didn't you?" He questioned Sasuke as he shifted uncomfortably on the wet surface of the dock, his robes sticking to the splintering wood. He tugged the fabric, setting it loose and returning his attention to the pale man standing over him. Sasuke didn't answer his question, and the Kage guessed it was because he was right. The Uchiha _had_ to have known, because he seemed to know everything. And it was common sense that his followers would avenge his death against the Uchiha. He only hoped that saying it aloud would spark some apprehension in Sasuke, but no such thing came. His face remained steadfast and strongly rigid, not affected by the Kage's words. "You know they'll kill you and all of the little underlings you've gained. But I can tell that you don't care about that." The Kage gave him a slimy smile- a knowing smile. "Because you're selfish- and you'll give up anything in order to get what you want." He laughed, shifting again and the Uchiha raised a brow in retort- amused by the Kage's certainty (the man was so convinced that he was correct about the Uchiha's motives). "You'd even give up the Haruno woman, when the right time comes." His eyes squinted in delight, a wide smile taking over his face. "You and I are so similar, Sasuke. If only you would have given your will to me. I could have made you a truly great man. A powerful man." Kage let his sentence hang in the air, the rain-pour the only sound in the distant background around them. Sasuke tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the fallen man to continue bribing him. "I can still give you those things, Sasuke, if you'd let me." He spoke, cutting the peace. "I can give you _power_." He leaned closer toward the Uchiha, trying to gauge his reaction. "So much power."

Sasuke's foot stopped tapping and his head quirked to the side, his hair disheveled and sticking to his pale skin from the rain didn't alter from the movement. For a moment, the Kage believed he had won him over. "You know nothing about me. And you know nothing about power." Was his simple answer as he began raising the gun higher from the Kage's chest until it hovered before his face instead. "And I am in no way similar to you." He stopped the directioning of the gun when the Kage could see down the barrel in front of his eyes. "The only thing we have in common with each other," the Uchiha licked his lips before continuing, watching the Kage squirm beneath him. "Is that one of us is about to die."

The Kage snorted, his pride making him boastful and confident. "And how do you expect that to happen?" he challenged.

"With my bullet in your brain." Sasuke answered comfortably as the Kage squinted up at him through the water falling, looking at him for the last time until he could finally find the Uchiha's face. The face that usually held a confident, cocky tilt of the lips and dark, fathomless eyes. It was a moment of silence before the Kage could see it clearly-

There stood Sasuke, intense and proud, the firm set of his body ready to strike at any moment. Even with the gun in his hand, aimed directly between the Kage's eyes, he did not loosen his stance or falter in his blank expression. And, even in the prowess of his stance, the Kage couldn't help but revel the utter power of the Uchiha above him. Intense- profoundly so. A man as impressive as him was not, and never could be, under his control. Never so powerless to let himself be under the Kage's will. The rugged, broad shoulders and strong build of the man above him was more imposing than even the high skyscrapers in the distance behind him across the river. An all-encompassing prowess of his eyes- hunting but never hunted- and so raw, so bold, that not even the darkness of the soulless night could hide its suffocating intensity.

The Kage could see the Uchiha- a man who demanded blood and obedience. A frightening man- A dangerous one that was not to be taken lightly.

And for a small moment – a moment so short that he didn't know if it was real or just a figment or his imagination- the Kage was stunned with a cold, predatory awe at the sight of him. For a small moment, he could not find the will to fight against such an overbearing presence that no mortal man should possess; and he resigned himself to death- until Sasuke pulled the trigger and the loud thundering of the gun sent echoes through the west side of the city.

* * *

"Sasuke!" Sakura whined from her room, waking him up. It had been a week and she was still annoying him. At times like this, he wasn't sure if he was regretful of letting her live or not. Maybe he should have shot her, after all, instead of untying her and letting her come with him.

"What!?" he yelled, throwing his pillow over his head.

"Come here!" she called.

"No." he simply answered, rumbling his voice through the house, and it was silent for a moment. He let out a breath of relief from his nose and nestled into the mattress some more, fading into sleep again until her voice called, in an even louder wine, and startled him awake again.

"Sasukeeeeee!" he heard some jostling from her room and figured that she was kicking her arms and legs around childishly to annoy him or get his attention.

"What!?" he threw his pillow at the door. It went through the opening and landed in the hall, knocking over a vase. He heard the shatter and growled to himself, cursing the Haruno woman for getting under his skin so easily; he hadn't slept in days, which was causing his easy agitation.

"Come heeere!" she was basically sobbing, just to anger him.

He jumped from the bed and stomped/plummeted the ten feet to her room, tossing open the door so hard that it knocked down whatever was behind it- probably a coat rack. Her hands flung to her head at the loud noise, plugging her ears and covering her eyes from the light. "Stop yelling or I swear I will choke you out, woman-" he attempted to threaten, but her hands were over her ears still, not listening to anything he was saying. He grabbed the pillow from the hall and threw it at her. She removed her hands and looked to him with squinted eyes through the light of the hall. "What the fuck is _wrong_ with you?"

"I don't feel good." She groaned.

"Probably because you drank a bottle of my best wine to yourself last night." He pointed out, crossing his arms. Of course, she would celebrate the Kage's imminent demise- but she always took things a little too far.

"Oh, yeah, I totally forgot!" she bit out sarcastically then plopped her pounding head back onto her pillow, her hair spilling chaotically around her head.

"What. Do. You. Want. Sakura?" he asked distinctly, waiting for her reaction.

"I have to go to the bathroom!" she stated impressively loud.

"Then get the fuck up and go." He rolled his eyes, leaning on her doorway.

"I'm not using the bathroom where that…" she tried to find the correct words. "That _woman _used to be. I refuse!"

"Then you'll just have to hold it, won't you?" he raised an eyebrow at her lack of logic.

Then, she waited until he returned to his room and plopped into his bed once more before she continued to whine his name and complain. It wasn't until she convinced him to carry her up the stairs to the large closet area where there was an extra bathroom that she finally stopped her carousing, smiling to herself as she walked out and back down the stairwell to her own bed in a way that Sasuke thought was a little too smug for such a tiny woman. "I'll kill you." He brooded to himself but she didn't seem to take his threat seriously, only adding to his annoyance.

"That's what you've been telling me for the last couple weeks, Sasuke, but I have yet to see you actually do it." She challenged and he quickly gathered that this was her revenge for him stabbing her.

He couldn't help but smile at her as she walked back into her room and shut her door calmly. For such a timid woman, she knew how to get a point across. Yes, his Mother would, without a doubt, approve of Haruno Sakura.

Her door opened again for a moment and she came out, holding his pillow above her head before throwing it down the hall toward him and shutting herself in her room once more. He grabbed it, going back to his own bed, too, and lying in his now cool sheets.

The pillow smelled like her after that.

"Sasukeeee!" she yelled furiously high, starting her revenge again and he wasn't sure how long she planned on keeping this up. But he also wasn't sure if he really hated it as much as he lead on, or if he was more excited by it than he should have been.

* * *

It had been steady. For a while, at least.

Sasuke was still doing what Sasuke did best and Brahm was still advising him. And Naruto…..well, she hadn't seen him since that night. But sometimes she knew he was lurking around the house by orders from the Uchiha.

The Kage might have been dead, but Sasuke was still as paranoid as ever. Especially with Sound in slight chaos. Without a leader, what were the people to do? And the upcoming elections weren't helping matters at all. If there was anything Sasuke didn't like, it was unknowns. And whoever would win was a big unknown. But Sakura was sure as brass that whoever did win would find themselves with the Uchiha as their new best friend. He just couldn't stay out of the lime-light long enough to settle.

And she found that she strangely didn't mind this. Because it was just how he was.

If he came home with blood on his collar, she didn't ask why. If he gave her those looks like he wanted to strangle her, she pretended not to notice. After all, sticking her nose in his business had almost gotten her killed before and she wasn't about to convolute things anymore. Especially since they were getting back to normal.

"Sakura," his voice echoed through the kitchen and she jumped, dropping a cup into the soapy water of the sink.

She turned to gaze at him over her shoulder, drying off her hands and sucking in a nervous breath. "Sasuke."

There he stood, with his dark pants and black shirt, clicking his tongue at some thought in his head. "What are you doing?"

She thought this was a particularly stupid question, especially coming from him. "I'm doing the dishes."

"We have people for that." He uttered blatantly, quirking his head in wonderment. "The maids are getting paid to work, but they can't work if you're doing everything for them."

She didn't know what to say, so she turned back to the sink and continued to scrub a sturdy stain. She could hear him sigh tiredly when he realized she wouldn't comply and walk to the other end of the floor, pulling something from a rack and opening it. She guessed it was a can of some sort and smelt that it was olives when he slid quietly next to her, leaning on the counter and facing her without concern for his rendering of her space.

"Sakura," He began but didn't say what he was going to say.

"Sasuke."

He chewed.

She scrubbed.

He swallowed, she tried to look anywhere but at him. Until he stuck his hand into the can again and pulled out a large black olive, then shoved it between her lips and into her mouth.

Sakura sputtered, spitting the offending food into the sink and turning to glare at him. "What the fuck is your problem-"

"You really should watch your language, Sakura." He gave her an appraising glance up and down, playfully transparent. "It's quite _dirty_." He clicked his tongue at her.

Then he walked out of the room and left the house (probably returning to some "job"), leaving her to fume to herself. "I'll kill you!"

* * *

Try as she might, it just wasn't going away.

She brushed her teeth again but she could still taste it: the taste of his thumb forcing into her mouth. And the light hint of olive left over on her lips whenever she licked them.

* * *

She was so thirsty, but it was the middle of the night. And the floor was probably cold.

Eventually, she gained enough courage to snake her feet onto the floor and force her way into the kitchen, her eyes still closed in hopes that it will help her to fall into sleep easily once she reached her room again. Her arms floated in front of her through the house's confines, feeling her way to the cabinet, grabbing a glass and filling it at the sink. She gulped it quickly, setting it on the countertop with a clanking sound then turned to make her way back to bed.

But she was alerted to something odd—a cool liquid on the floor; too thick to be water, squelching under the weight of her foot and flooding between her toes. "Sakura." His familiar way of greeting her caught her attention before she could leap to the light-switch.

"Sasuke? Are you hurt?" She blurted, blinking quickly and hoping that it would help her to see better in the dark. Her eyelashes tickled her cheeks each time.

"It's not my blood." He didn't bother to give her any more information than that.

"Then why is it all over the floor?"

He didn't answer.

"Why are you sitting alone in the dark?"

His hand shot out toward her, holding her upper arm. She hadn't heard him move near her, but she dared not complain against him. If it was one of _those_ nights, she didn't want him to deem it useful for her blood to spill as well. She never knew what he would be capable of doing on nights like that, when he didn't seem to remember who he was or if what he was doing were wrong.

His cool fingers (cold from him being outside recently) warmed after the contact with her nervously heating skin. "What's wrong?" The words left her mouth before she could take them back. But he still did not speak. Instead, he leaned toward her and placed a glass on the counter next to hers. She could smell the liquor from it, warm and heady in the air. She guessed his mouth would taste the same. And it did, once he crouched forward and pressed himself to her, moving his hands from her arms to her neck where they were a little too rough, then to her hips, lifting her until she sat on the counter. "Sasuke-"

"Just shut up." He breathed hotly, pressing his face into the skin of her throat, grabbing her thighs and jerking her hips forward until they collided with his, plastering her to him and wrapping her legs around himself. For a moment, she forgot her fusses.

Her left hand raked through his messy, dark hair and her right hand found homage across his ribs to his back until her fingers clenched the taught muscle of his shoulder, trying to help him bring her closer than possible to himself; though she knew he would need no such aid.

When he brought her forward on the hard, rough concrete countertop and released her, after what seemed an eternity of his deliberation whether to first fige the attention of his mouth to her lips or slender throat, he decided her mouth to be the tastiest morsel of the two options. So when the decision was made and the following action of hungrily capturing her mouth followed abruptly, she let out a low, keening and mellifluous sound – it swirled from the base of her tongue and tickled his lips, which he wasn't sure he liked or not.

But their breaths mingled, halting his musings from going too far. Somewhere in the time when there was not enough oxygen to keep passion between only their tongues and the sordid, accusing glances that were almost unable to be detected in the dark, her nightgown was pressed up to her waist to expose her with large, calloused hands roaming the softness of her thighs. Sakura tried nnot to mewel in satisfaction until he was biting harshly on her collar and widening her legs to accomidate his swelling of male admiration for the woman he pressed himself so gravely against. He angled her forward, scraping her skin against the concrete, grinding against her apex. He could not decide whether the sound of her scraping skin, or her quick breaths were more arousing. And just as he wondered upon that thought, her breath hitched- like some unnamed god playing with his decisions- at the proof of his attraction and wanting of her so intimately—so secretly that he made an effort to never voice it—so secretly that it had to be proven in the dark.

She reciprocated to his toward, roughly fixated handling of her (in various stages of undress) by fondling the waistband of his black trousers, snapping it against the bone of his hip. But she didn't expect such a seemingly-ineffectual, inexperienced movement to affect him so much. The Uchiha growled lowly, clenching his hands to try and gain more access to her legs, his fingers digging in but not breaking the flesh. She tried it again, hoping to unveil even more of the same reaction and was met with a pushing forward of his hips and a slow grind against her, then she was sure he could finish her of he continued; showing her a glimmer of heaven warming through her core and down her legs where it pooled at her toes, before he would bring her soul back into the downward spiral to hell. Because she was always unable to resist him – and he always knew that.

Even when his movements became more aggressive and impatient with her apprehension, her clueless innocence—he couldn't even tell if she knew what her agreeing to his advances meant. He wasn't sure if she knew what he expected to happen. Until she released her hands from his pants, effectively cutting off her playful banter of silent insinuations; her fingers (much smaller and not quite as misused as his own) jerked the button of his trousers, sending it skidding like pearls across the floor in a staccato, then bringing down the cursed zipper so a slight sliver of his pale hip could present itself to her strained eyes.

His chest pounded in expectation, borderlining thoughts of wondering what her decision was; consent or rejection. But then, the consuming, luscious moment of answer to that question when she lifts her hips, allowing the pads of his thumbs to loop into the sides of her panties and discard them somewhere on the floor. And knowing it – that she sat there before him, ready and young and willing and bare- almost made it impossible for him to stop himself. "Sakura," he breathed, and didn't have to voice the rest of his offer; after all, she always knew what he wanted to say but never would. Sakura took a moment to collect herself, licking her dry, nervous lips and dragging a timid hand through his tresses, and nodded. He wouldn't have known she did in the dark if he hadn't felt if rustle against his cheek.

And in a moment, he was seizing her, one arm wrapped tightly around her hips and the other hand holding the inside of her right thigh open, keeping it in place as he positioned himself. And with a shallow grunt, he thrust his hips forward, flexing into her to take a shallow, steadying breath then moving again and again.

She wanted to ask him to slow down, but it might have been useless; Uchiha Sasuke did not do 'companionate' and 'understanding.' She didn't know if it was supposed to feel good the first time- or if it would even feel good like that- until he seemed to become agitated with her lack of response and altered his position, leaning her back a fraction and grasping her hands from his arms, forcing them up and curling her fingers around the mantle of the cabinet to leverage herself, then returning back to his previous slackings of lust. Driving forward and back- to and fro- until she could feel something pinch inside of her and a slow bubbling, a building, of some thing she never knew before. And it raked her, it consumed her, after she let it have its way; until he was grunting as well and she lifting herself upon her grip of the cabinets to meet his thrusts. And it spun out, retrieving her and bringing her gone and back again. But it was over very soon, and she wondered if the man above her, panting and leaning his head on her shoulder, felt as complete as she did.

* * *

They were sitting at the dining-table, the only sound was the scraping of metal utensils against the glass plates. Sakura, Sasuke and Brahm. It was _sort of_ a family meal. But there wasn't much talking.

Until Brahm pulled something from his shirt pocket and placed it on the table in front of them all.

"Sakura, Sasuke is very much like this flower." Brahm began all of a sudden on some strange conversation-starter, like he usually did when things were awkward and he had something he thought was important to note. He gently prodded the bottom of the flower with his spoon until it opened to reveal small petals. It purchased a dark, velvety purple texture, glinting in the artificial light of the living-room. Sasuke didn't say anything, simply ignoring them and focusing on his plate. He chewed, he swallowed, he scowled. "It just needs a little push in the right direction, and it will open up to you." He giggled suddenly to himself. She then chose that it was enough of Brahm's pranking and decided that she had no choice other than to answer before Brahm became too inappropriate.

"So, you want me to prod Sasuke's ass?" she asked, causing the tall, bulky man to burst into a fit of laughter that she felt a little weird about. Sasuke merely chewed, swallowed and scowled again.

* * *

She stormed into Sasuke's room for the millionth time that month. He noted how moody she was lately and blamed the x chromosome.

She threw a slight stack of papers onto the writing desk he was sitting at and glared at him until he read through them. After reading only the first paragraph, he scooted his chair back away from the desk and let out a low whistle, dragging his hands down his face. "How inconvenient." Was all he said and his reply didn't seem like what she had wanted from him because the next thing he knew, he was dodging her fist. He should have killed her when he had the chance.

"This isn't time for joking. This is serious."

"Seriously fucked up."

She tried to hit him again. "Can't you contribute anything better than depletory statements?"

"Of course I could. But I, in my utter horror, have chosen to deal with this by using childish remarks instead of action. If I had it my way, I'd stab you in the lower abdomen with that pen I'm so fond of."

Her eyes widened in outrage and she looked around for something to throw at him. When nothing good came to mind that would do enough damage to his skull she settled for words instead. "This is as much your fault as it is mine!"

He took a moment to collect his thoughts, and then looked to her face innocently. "Just make sure you don't get fat." This time he couldn't dodge the smack across the back of his head.

"Will you stop hitting me? I have no problem with hitting you back. Maybe I should throw you down the stairs instead, though. It would take care of this problem much quicker if I did."

"Sasuke!" she yelled at him in objection.

"Well, how do you expect me to act? This wasn't exactly part of the plan."

"Nobody plans for this stuff, Sasuke. It just happens."

You know, I could have made a very inappropriate joke just now but I chose not to because I knew it would make you upset….You're welcome."

Then she stormed out, which was usually how she left his room lately after talking to him.

"If you're going to be popping out my offspring in seven months, you should really work on your temper!" he fingered the stack she had plopped in front of him again, skimming through a certain dotted list from the doctor titled: 'What to expect when you're expecting.' "We can't be raising our accidental spawn-child in chaos, now, can we?" he called after her jokingly. She didn't miss the irony of the 'master of chaos' saying such a thing.

* * *

She was sitting next to him on the couch as some stereotypical thriller movie about suspicious murders in urban suburbia was playing on the large television in front of them. Sasuke had lost interest in the film during the first ten minutes but stayed sitting there all the same. Watching Sakura from the corner of his eye was much more entertaining than some politically-correct slasher film. He frowned at the television, waiting for her to do something that would distract him.

He watched as her hand caressed gently across her midsection, a maternally instinctual movement that he was sure she didn't notice she was doing. A medium-sized tub of stovetop popcorn rested absurdly upon her swelling belly. "Hey, Sasuke."

"Hn?" he turned only a fraction toward her general direction, seeming uninterested.

"Don't you tink it's strange that I'm carrying your demon-spawn but we still sleep in separate rooms?" she asked.

It took him a moment to respond, not liking her new nickname for his child very much. "Hn."

That weekend, he came home to find Sakura moving her belongings into his dresser drawers and her blankets on his bed. The room next door that had been hers beforehand was empty and quiet, except for a new-looking crib and light blue paint for the walls. He sighed when he walked into the doorway, watching her fold clothes on her stomach. "What am I going to do with you?"

"That's a silly question." She looked at him as if she didn't know what he was getting at. "You're going to marry me, of course. I'm carrying your child, after all. It's the right thing to do."

He thought that was strange because when had he ever done the 'right thing?'

"If I were going to marry you, you'd know it." He repeated his previous words to her again, seeing the ghost of a smile cross her lips.

"We'll see."

_fini_


	11. Ending AN

Just to answer questions from some of you Readers, I will not be making a sequel anymore because I feel as if the story has been given a good run. But there will be an alternate ending posted soon because I really want to write it with both possible outcomes.

And I will also explain many features of the story that are still a little fuzzy:

1. Sasuke doesn't say his feelings toward her anywhere in the story particularly because I hint at him either hating her or liking her (I never hint that he may love her because psychopaths are incapable of loving). This is because I want you to choose how he feels about her for yourself. I don't want to force you to think a certain way about their relationship with each other; I want you to create his feelings in your own mind.

2. Sasuke has changed a lot since the beginning of the story. He went from frolicking and messing around with Sakura's emotions, at first. Then, he stopped playing around with her emotions and decided to play with her mind instead. And in the end he did both, but not as manipulative as before- he was a little more gentle with her. This is because he was challenging her the whole time to see if she was "trustworthy" or not (which explains a great deal of why he made the split-decision not to kill her in the end and why he didn't answer her question. Because it is true that her strength intimidates him, but he had to push her and push her to make her realize how strong she really was).

3. They did end up having a child, but it wasn't expected. Sasuke didn't want that to happen but he seems to not care either way. It's Sakura that shows all the emotions in the story because she is the sane one. Sasuke merely sees those emotions and chooses to either reciprocate or not.

4. I tried to stick to the personality traits of a psychopath the entire time I wrote his character, which is why he changes so frequently. In chapter 2, I began the intro with a list of personality traits of psychopaths and I used all of them for him in the expanse of the journey.

5. At the end, Sasuke is gentle toward Sakura- not because of love or regret, but because he didn't really ever plan to kill her in the first place. He merely wanted to taint her so he wasn't the only insane one anymore. And he succeeded, but only a little. She still is more pure. But, overall, the reason he put her through everything he did was to make her realize how strong she could be. After she realized that she held some kind of power over him (they both hold certain powers over each other and those powers influence decisions) he was able to leave her be. Because that made their relationship more even and not as lopsided.

This is all confusing and a lot of information because it is a story about insanity of the mind. Therefore, I purposely made it confusing because Sasuke's and Sakura's minds are confusing….

If you guys have any other questions you want cleared up, please ask and I will be more than happy to answer them


End file.
